Bleating about the NBN opt-out again

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(Cue background music: “One of These Things is Not Like The Other, from Sesame Street)

Everyone’s up in arms about the “opt out” NBN, it seems. Here’s some snippets.

“The three biggest states have opposed the move by NBN Co to install fibre-optic connections to homes and businesses without asking permission” – The Australian Financial Review.

“The opposition communications spokesperson Malcolm Turnbull said the shift to an opt-out policy confirms that the NBN business plan depends on compulsion” – The Australian.

“Victoria’s … technology minister has confirmed that the state does not support the introduction of Labor’s preferred ‘opt-out’ model for the National Broadband Network” – Delimiter. 

“If Australian consumers want a fixed line for telephony or Internet access, they are going to have to use the NBN’s line” – Malcolm Turnbull on his blog. 

Customers “will be forced into connecting to the national broadband network (NBN) unless they ‘opt-out’” – The SydneyMorning Herald.

How many of these stories have a 2012 dateline? One. The rest are from 2010.

For whatever reason, The Australian Financial Review treated a years-old government policy as a Major News Announcement, duly handing a stick to three state governments, pointing to a piñata called “The NBN”, and letting them swing.

I wonder how the premiers would feel if the Federal Government challenged their water utilities’ rights to fix sewer mains running under private backyards?