Howard only wanted to build a hospital in the marginal northern...

Howard only wanted to build a hospital in the marginal northern seat. It was totally blatent, especially considering the need elsewhere in the state.

And the pink batts was purely about job creation and stimulus responding to the GFC (with bonus environmental and cost of living benefits). A reasonable enough idea - just not rolled out with enough care.

But the NBN is far more than just short term job creation. It really is major nation building infrastructure. It does create both short and long term employment. It improves quality of life. It provides huge opportunity reaching the vast majority of Australia.

Many people don't get it but many do - digital communication/data/bandwidth a huge part of the modern world already and is growing exponentially. Fibre optic really is miraculous and is genuinely cable of coping with exponential growth in digital bandwidth.

It is physically imposible for wireless to cope with this much bandwidth - there is only so much frequency that can fit in the air. Wireless is great as an option but can not be relied on for the bulk of bandwidth.

Governement needs the guts and vision to build major long-term projects like this. They're the only one big enough to do it, why else have them. In 10-years time I'd rather look back and see some projects like this been developed.