Hey there Malcolm Turnbull – do you remember this interview on Sky News Australia from February 2012? You should, as it is on your own website.
It makes interesting reading:
“MALCOLM TURNBULL: But you know, the big challenge here — the extraordinary thing that we have seen today, is we know the NBN has passed so far, with fibre, about 20,000 households. That is about what they have passed. Julia Gillard said today that they will have reached, by the end of the year, end of 2012, so in 10 months, 758,000 households. So they have got 738,000 households that they –
DAVID SPEERS: You don’t think they can get there?
MALCOLM TURNBULL: Well, we are both smiling — neither of us think they will. This is an extraordinary promise. If they can do that, I guess there will be a lot of admiration in terms of construction. So we have got to make sure she is not being slippery with the figures here or the terminology.
DAVID SPEERS: You’re going to hold her to account on that?
MALCOLM TURNBULL: She said it will reach, it would have reached 758,000 households –
DAVID SPEERS: Either plugged in or under construction.
MALCOLM TURNBULL: Either plugged in or under construction. Now, what most people would think that meant — I would think and you would think it meant — was that it is either plugged in and ready to go or it is run down the street and it is able to be plugged in. So 758,000 households. Now, if she cannot deliver that, then she will — the NBN will have completely failed.”
With news today that NBN Co actually exceeded this target, surely Turnbull must accept that based on his own words that the NBN has not “completely failed”.
He should.
But he won’t.