| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (45 min. 3 sec.) ; 272303827 bytes |
| Summary |
A grand vision or a grand folly? Four Corners sizes up the largest infrastructure project in Australian history. Reporter Stephen Long navigates his way through the arguments, exploring the business case and the technological requirements for our 'wired' future. Is it nation building? Will it be the 21st century equivalent to building the national railway network, or simply an overpriced public monopoly-stifling competition? "A game changer for Australia" or "fundamentally a huge backwards step"?With billions of taxpayers dollars on the line, Four Corners explores the debate over the ultra fast information superhighway - the National Broadband Network. When the NBN is complete, homes, factories and offices across the nation will have access to communications capable of revolutionising the way we live, with the Government promising an "ever expanding universe of infinite possibilities".And while the technology may be cutting edge, the economic debate is an old one - who should provide and pay for a service? Taxpayers or private enterprise? And how did we get this supersized, super expensive model? Stephen Long explains how the Labor Party's 2007 election promise of a "pathway to the future" turned into a high stakes game of 'chicken' with Telstra and how this billion dollar brinkmanship resulted in today's NBN.But as politicians and telco operators continue to argue over the economics, the NBN is rolling out across the countryside. Four Corners takes you to the towns where the network is already operating. And talks to those who believe the NBN could unleash extraordinary possibilities: breathing life into regional Australia; dismissing the tyranny of distance with the click of a mouse; where business would no longer be limited by geography, patients spared exhausting travel to faraway doctors and students gain access to teachers anywhere in the country.And if you don't know your gigabytes from your megabits, the program will give you a guide to the NBN, explaining how the technology works and what it will mean for you.And don't miss the Four Corners website where the program has joined forces with ABC's Online Investigative Unit to produce a special feature on the NBN |
| Event |
Broadcast 2011-04-11 at 20:30:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: NC |
| Subject |
Debates and debating.
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Infrastructure (Economics) -- Government policy.
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Infrastructure (Economics) -- Planning.
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Australia.
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| Form |
Streaming video
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| Author |
Bakes, Patrick, contributor
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Bergfeld, Jemma, contributor
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Boucher, Gary, contributor
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Boucher, Sandra, contributor
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Braithwaite, Maxine, contributor
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Broad, Paul, contributor
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Burgess, Phil, contributor
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Conroy, Stephen, contributor
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Eastwood, Hugh, contributor
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Kennedy, David, contributor
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Kenny, Robert, contributor
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Krishnapillai, Maha, contributor
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Lester, Harrison, contributor
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Lester, Matthew, contributor
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Lester, Susan, contributor
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Long, Stephen, reporter
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Noble, Alan, contributor
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O'Brien, Kerry, host
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Oppermann, Ian, contributor
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Percival, Terry, contributor
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Quigley, Mike, contributor
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Stokes, Kerry, contributor
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Trujillo, Sol, contributor
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Turnbull, Malcolm, contributor
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Willett, Ed, contributor
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Wilson, John, contributor
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