You won't often catch me defending Telstra, but here goes: they didn't let the copper network fall into disrepair. They did genuinely maintain it at a standard that was pretty close to if not as good as what Telstra did. Those copper cables though were designed for telephony and never designed for the Internet. Some of that copper is over 100 years old. If all the lines needed to handle were plain old telephone, Telstra was doing ok.

We'll never know whether Telecom would have gone to the Internet at all, as they were a telephone company. I can see Telecom in that alternate universe being all-in on mobile Internet though. It's an interesting thought discussion.

There's a theory I've seen that it was to help Murdoch and Telstra.

Murdoch and Telstra owned Foxtel. Telstra also owned the HFC cable that Foxtel used to transmit it's pay tv.

Now, Netflix, and online sports viewing was becoming possible and popular via the internet. And with faster internet, everyone would be able to do it. And they wouldn't be locked in to Telstra for fast HFC cable internet, or for Foxtel for it's entertainment or sports content. Foxtel was also under attack from the introduction of Digital Television, which was providing broader content and sports

So, Murdoch and Telstra had 2 problems:

• The implementation of fibre to the home would leave them with obsolete copper and HFC physical assets worth nothing.
• Foxtel was not ready with it's internet centric apps and distribution. They didn't launch Foxtel Play until Aug 2013 and it only handled SD playback, and 2017 for HD with Foxtel Now. Kayo Sports launched in 2018, and Binge in 2020. BUT competitors already were mature in 2010. Uh-oh! My subscribers!

So, how would a government solve to appease these people?

• You make the NBN a 'multi-technology' strategy.
• You buy up the copper and HFC assets that will be worthless from Telstra for billions.
• You make everything as complex as possible so that implementation will be slower, buying Foxtel more time to transfer their business processes and apps to the internet, while at the same time hamstringing their competitors

"Sooner, cheaper and more affordably" became later, more expensive and at much higher cost.

It's only 2025 that Murdoch sold out of Foxtel due to a 'strategic review'. An inevitable end that would have come much sooner if not for Turdbull and Abutt.

For this specific case it means net zero carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Plastic isn't carbon in the atmosphere, so it isn't included in these figures.

Net zero is just the first step anyway. Once we reach net zero, we still need to work really hard to get to actual zero, then we still need to find a way to be significantly carbon negative if we want to try to slow the worsening rate of climate related disasters.

Hopefully, somewhere in that process, oil products will become non-viable.

Gina Rinehart’s oil and gas investments include private firms Warrego Energy in Western Australia and Senex Energy in Queensland

Ginarinehart.com

Na, she does. In her defense I think her investments aren't the causal driver behind her whacko beliefs, i think it's the contextual bubble she has always lived within.