"Just as railway tracks laid out the future of the 19th century, and electricity grids the future of the 20th century, so broadband represents the core infrastructure of the 21st century."

The Rudd Government's newly-announced initiative would involve spending $43 billion to build a nationwide fibre-to-the-home network over eight years covering 90 per cent of Australian premises, with ambitious fixed wireless and satellite-based technology covering the remainder of the population.

The infrastructure-based dichotomy established by the Labor Government on 7 April, 2009 would haunt the National Broadband Network (NBN) over the next two years, as critics and fans alike argued over what exactly the national network announced that day constituted: A profitable government investment, a re-entrenchment of telecommunications or a vital piece of infrastructure, whatever the cost?

Nor was the project free of the spectre of previous failed government broadband initiatives. According to Labor, the previous Coalition Government was responsible for some 18 failed attempts to revitalise broadband in Australia, including the famously scrapped OPEL project.

But the press conference also signalled the official scrapping of the Rudd Government's own initiative: An extensive private sector tender process carried out the year before, in which many tried but failed to convince the government of what was needed to push Australian broadband into the 21st century. As a result, the budget increased tenfold and the stakes became much higher.