Analysis of the questions submitted to the show before the episode went to air and published online on the ABC’s site showed that as a consequence of the two panellists’ participation, Q&A was inundated with at least many dozens of questions regarding the NBN as a topic, in both text and video form.
However, the show did not choose to air any of the NBN questions...
On the show itself last night, host Tony Jones explicitly shut down several discussions of the NBN which Van Badham attempted to initiate with Turnbull. During a discussion relating to taxation and the Howard administration’s history of financial management, Van Badham said:
Quote:“I seem to remember the privatisation of Telstra, and the sale of rather a lot of government assets, so let’s not talk about ‘we were totally in the black’. We sold off major pieces of infrastructure, that this country needs to be prosperous in the future, which is a wonderful way of perhaps talking about the NBN; and one of the problems we’re having with the NBN is since the privatisation of Telstra — used to fill up the government coffers — that we are behind on maintenance, that we are behind the technology required …”
Host Tony Jones responded: “You know what, I’m going to pause you on the NBN, because we’ll come back to that subject later.” However, Jones did not return to the subject.
During a later discussion about the Federal Government’s recent $24 billion purchase of 58 Joint Strike Fighters to bolster Australia’s military assets, Turnbull responded to criticism about the purchase by stating that the JSF fighters were “the latest” and “the best” in that category of fighter jet that Australia could buy.
Van Badham responded: “Again it’s interesting, and I have to bring it up again … we need the latest and the best with these joint strike fighters and that’s why we’re spending $12 billion on them and another $12 billion in maintenance. And how great would it be if we had the latest and the best technology in terms of the NBN? Can we please start realising that politics and spending, it’s all a choice. The choice of the Coalition is to have the latest and the best strike fighters, but to have an inadequate, and not the best form of Internet structure.”
The comment was met with applause from the audience, but Turnbull responded that Van Badham’s claim was “complete wrong about the NBN”. “It’s not wrong at all. We know that it’s not wrong, Malcolm,” Van Badham fired back.
Despite the byplay between the two panellists on the NBN issue, Jones again immediately switched the topic to a different panellist, noting that the JSF purchase had been supported by both major sides of politics and asking Sarrah Le Marquand, opinion editor for News Ltd newspaper The Daily Telegraph, about her opinion on the ABC’s Australia Network regional program.
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ABC gagged Journalists from reporting on NBN (Read 6486 times)
