So here we go again. The Australian government—our wise and responsible leaders—have decided to throw another $3 billion at the National Broadband Network (NBN). That’s right. The same NBN that was supposed to revolutionize our internet, the same one that has already swallowed $57 billion of taxpayer money, the same one that still, to this day, doesn’t work properly.
Now, you might be asking: why? Why, in 2025, are we still wasting money on an outdated, broken system? The answer, of course, is because that’s what governments do. They double down on failure, they refuse to admit mistakes, and worst of all, they keep spending your money like it’s theirs to burn.
But here’s the part that should really make your blood boil: we don’t even need the NBN anymore. Technology has moved on. The internet doesn’t have to come from underground fiber cables anymore. Satellite broadband is here, and it works. Elon Musk’s Starlink is already proving it. His network of low-Earth orbit satellites is delivering fast, reliable internet anywhere in the world—rural towns, remote islands, the middle of the ocean. And it’s doing it without a single fiber optic cable.
And here’s the kicker: the entire Starlink system cost under $10 billion. That’s less than a fifth of what Australia has spent on the NBN, and yet it provides better, faster, and more accessible internet. So why are we still stuck with this bloated, inefficient mess? Why isn’t the government scrapping the NBN entirely and investing in our own version of Starlink—a satellite broadband system owned and operated by Australia that could provide high-speed internet to every Australian, no matter where they live?
The answer is obvious. The bureaucrats in Canberra don’t actually care about better technology or cheaper solutions. They care about covering their own backsides. Admitting the NBN is a failure would mean someone has to take the blame, and we all know that will never happen. So instead, they do what they always do: keep throwing money at a problem and hope nobody notices.
And then there’s the union factor. The NBN isn’t just a broadband project; it’s a jobs program for union workers. Building and maintaining fiber networks requires thousands of contractors, most of them unionized. A satellite system, on the other hand? Not so much. That’s a lot of government-aligned unions suddenly out of work, and that’s not something Canberra is willing to risk.
So instead of investing in the future, instead of saving taxpayers billions and actually fixing the problem, the government is doing what it always does: propping up a failed system to keep its own people happy. Meanwhile, regular Australians—especially those in regional and rural areas—are still stuck with slow, overpriced internet while the rest of the world moves ahead.
If Australia wanted to, it could launch its own low-Earth orbit satellite network for a fraction of the cost of the NBN. It would mean high-speed, reliable broadband across the entire country, no matter how remote. No more waiting for fiber rollouts, no more dealing with ancient copper lines, no more patchwork upgrades that never seem to fix anything.
But that would require leadership—and let’s be honest, we don’t have that. What we have are politicians who refuse to admit failure, bureaucrats who protect their own jobs, and a government that will never stop wasting your money—no matter how obvious the solution is.