For those of you who have decided fibre is the new 'public good' and should be paid for by the tax-payer, answer me this.
National wants to put in $1.5 billion and says it will need to be matched by the same and more coming from the private sector. (Maurice Williamson puts up some very persuasive arguments as to how and why the private sector will come to the party - he should listen to himself and ask why, then, government needs to get involved?)
So let's say it's going to take $4 billion to lay fibre to 1,000,000 homes.
That's just 4 grand a home.
If I got a call tomorrow from a salesperson trying to sell me fibre for $4,000 I would tell them quite firmly to piss off. Would you?
So why are you happy for the government to use your money buying something you wouldn't fork out for privately?
As usual with big government subsidies the majority end up paying for the benefit of a minority. Just like social welfare. But this is called corporate welfare.
Grief doesn’t get better; it changes.
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