Waleed Aly’s The Project segment Something We Should Talk About is a network television go-to. It’s smart, funny, critical and informative.
Last night, the subject was Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, or more specifically his role in the roll-out of the National Broadband Network.
Aly raised the fact that despite an increase in cost of approximately $10 billion, the NBN (which we still don’t have) is expected to deliver a slower internet speed than the one promised by Labor.
The segment began with a clip of former PM Tony Abbott delivering a speech on the NBN where he says Malcolm Turnbul “virtually invented the internet in this country”.
“First,” said Aly, “Malcolm Turnbull invented the internet in this country as much as I invented longwinded TV rants in this country.” Oh, snap!
“We didn’t invent it but we don’t mind accepting praise from people who think we did,” he added.
“Second, his plan might not be as amazing as Tony would have us believe," he continued.
Aly outlined the broken promises of fibre connections delivered directly to our homes, the shortcomings in the network's roll-out and the fact that in the end, it is likely to be an inferior product to the one we have been waiting for.
"Leaked documents seem to reveal the Government’s NBN rollout is behind schedule and the reason why that is is a worry," he said, "as it’s not only that it could be late, but it’s an NBN not all of us want."
Aly also poked fun at Tony Abbott's infamous mind-blank saying labeling him "the only human to have ever had buffering issues in real life.”
“So if you are watching this right now on the internet," Aly finished, "and you had to wait for even a second for this video to buffer, you know who to blame — Tony Abbott and the guy who he says invented the internet.”
You can watch last night's full episode of The Project over on TenPlay.
Top Comments
Turnbull and his fraudband. Loves to get the little credit based on fictional claims through fact twisting but with very little accountability for the NBN's failures.
Just to clarify for some "readers" further down the page...
Customers for whom fixed-wireless is the only option (and, no, I'm not in remote Australia - and the fibre cable runs right up our street) have a data cap set by NBNCo of 250Gb per month. This cap is not negotiable with your ISP. The speed is also limited to 25Mbps and is not negotiable with your ISP.
People in the city can get 1000Gb at 100Mbps for almost the same price.
For many people outside of the major cities, the NBN does not exist - for all practical intents and purposes.
All those promises of running your business from home, of working remotely, of completing your university courses online, of non-buffered, whole-home, family internet do not exist for those customers. The NBN they can access is probably worse, in most cases, than what they already have.