"Imagine if we left our road network up to private enterprise....

"Imagine if we left our road network up to private enterprise. All we would have is toll roads on the major arterials in the main cities. Hang-on that basically describes the optus fibre service..."

Not arguing that there does not need to be any taxpayer funded fiber backbone, but the choice is between a bitumen road or a gold plated road.

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I'd say a better comparison would be the choice between a single lane dirt track that will OK for a few years, or a mutli-lane concrete highway that will still be a great asset to our children. Short term Vs long term...