Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's response to Coalitions Broadband Policy

An extract from ABC News website:

9/04/13

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy rubbished the Coalition policy, saying it "fails miserably" and would deprive millions of Australians from having high-speed internet connections.
Senator Conroy said Mr Turnbull had displayed "ignorance" of the broadband needs of the future.
"Customers using the NBN are also connecting more devices to the NBN and this is where Malcolm Turnbull and their version of a broadband network fails miserably," he said.
"If you understand broadband, if you understand that it is being used for more applications that require more bandwidth every single day, then you know that Malcolm Turnbull's network is a fail.
"Malcolm Turnbull is going to build a one-lane Sydney Harbour Bridge because he says he can do it cheaper and faster."
Senator Conroy said the plan's reliance on Telstra's ageing copper network was a key fault.
"I've got to say, I can't find a dumber piece of public policy than buying the copper from Telstra - I mean come on down Alan Bond," he said.
"Kerry Packer would be laughing all the way to the bank if he found a mug willing to buy Telstra's copper network."

Costs dispute

He rejected Coalition claims reported in the Daily Telegraph that the NBN costs could double.
The finance industry modelling is included in the Coalition's broadband policy and warns the NBN could take four years longer to build and cost more than $90 billion.
"Claims about cost blowouts have not been substantiated," Senator Conroy said.
"These are false and fanciful figures; they're concocted figures.
"Malcolm Turnbull is becoming the king of telling a lie using a fact."
Regional Development Minister Anthony Albanese said the Coalition's plan was a "policy disaster for regional Australia".
He said it abandoned the NBN's commitment to provide equal access across the country which would make "an enormous difference to people's lives".
"This policy announcement today gets rid of the consistent wholesale price," he said.
"What that ensures is whether you live in a regional town or whether you live in the capital city CBD, you have access to the same services at the same fundamental price - that's a foundation of (NBN) policy.
"The great difficulty in a nation such as ours has been a relatively sparse population spread across a very vast land; the National Broadband Network is the transport mode of the 21st century."
In an apparent endorsement of earlier details carried in the Daily Telegraph, the Opposition Leader's office had distributed copies of the story to Press Gallery journalists, though it had refused to release any official information prior to the launch.