Aardvark Daily

Please visit the sponsor!

The internet: king-maker, nation-builder?

When I first encountered the internet, way back in the mid 1990s, even I didn't have a full appreciation for huge effect it would have on the world less than two decades later.

What was at the time, just a handy (and cheap) way to exchange messages with people half a world away has now become a force so powerful that it looks set to be "the" determining factor in Australia's election -- and, thanks to Wikileaks, may ultimately result in the loss of the next election for the current US president and government.

Across the ditch in Oz, the only real point of distinction between Labour and the Coalition is their policy in respect to the proposed national broadband network (NBN) and this may be the thing that swings the critical independent candidates for or against either of the main parties.

Labour are all-for an NBN but the Coalition are far less keen to invest taxpayers money in such a venture -- mumbling instead about the possibility of throwing up a few wireless networks if/when necessary.

Just watch how the parties bend and sway in response to the demands of the independents who now hold the balance of power. I would not be surprised to see a some fairly significant concessions from the Coalition in particular on this score.

As Kiwis, I wonder which way we should be hoping the Aussies go on this issue.

If they opt to forgo an NBN, will that mean we've got more chance of catching up to Australia's vastly superior income levels and standard of living?

Could foregoing an NBN be a huge step backwards for Australia, effectively putting it on the back foot in a century which will surely be known as the peak of the knowledge revolution?

It's pretty hard to say, simply because neither NZ nor Oz have really embraced the concept of a knowledge-based economy (KBE) or worked hard to foster such.

Australia just digs its wealth out of the ground in the form of minerals and NZ just relies on primary produce for its income within the global economy.

Nobody really seems to be looking more than a few years a head as to what will happen when freight costs start to cripple these transport-intensive industries. I suspect that when that penny drops, we'll be rushing around trying to play catch-up with the rest of our trading peers who (like the USA, India etc) already have thriving knowledge economies.

Too little, too late.

But will this whole NBN thing be the tool we need to get a nascent KBE going?

Well there are plenty of folks (a lot of politicians included) who believe that an NBN will boost our nation's productivity and thrust us up the list of OECD nations in many categories.

I call BS on that.

While I'd *love* to see improved productivity, greater knowledge-based exports and an improvement in a nation's economic performance linked to an NBN, I'm far more realistic in my expectations.

Better internet will mean: more time spent on Facebook, more downloaded movies, TV and video, more downloaded porn, more online shopping - mainly at offshore (Chinese) websites that offer real deals.

Pray tell -- how will any of this improve our economic performance?

Local retailers will find it increasingly difficult to compete with "direct from China" prices. Instead of engaging in their local community more people will spend their weekends and evenings playing Farmville or whatever.

I don't see the NBN in either Australia or NZ creating a new generation of kitchen-table entrepreneurs who create innovative knowledge-based products and then sell them to an eager world-market so as to generate strong export earnings for the nation. Sure, there may be one or two who do this but, the overall effect on our balance of trade will be negative and ultimately the NBN will become the new SkyTV.

So am I against an NBN?

Hell no I'm not. I think it's just a bloody silly idea putting the cart before the horse.

If you're going to deliver a tool that has the *potential* to really give a KBE a boost, ought you not have that KBE or at least the policies that will foster a KBE in place first?

Before we start delivering fibre to the gate or cabinet, I think we ought to be looking at providing R&D tax parity with our neigbours and trading partners. Before we turn our NBN into just a cable-TV service, we ought to create the kind of economic environment that attracts the seed and venture capital that those who wish to harness such a resource to create hi-tech exports will desperately need.

Until then I think the politicians and NBN advocates are dreaming if they think this is going to be a positive thing for the economy or society.

I really don't think that, without the other mechanisms required to properly realise its value, an NBN is important enough to be a king/queen-maker, as it appears to be in Australia and I'm certain that it won't the nation builder some politicians are pitching it as.

Please visit the sponsor!

Have your say on this...

PERMALINK to this column

Oh, and don't forget today's sci/tech news headlines

Rank This Aardvark Page

Change Font