NBN: Taxpayer Funded Market Manipulation

I would have expected more than a few months to pass before I had cause to write about the NBN again. But just like DOGE in the US, the more you dig the more waste you uncover.

The School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI) was announced in March 2023, promising 'free' (taxpayer funded) NBN for one year to 30,000 eligible families. It was such a roaring success that by March 2025, the government was still scrambling to find 30,000 families to sign up. In a desperate attempt to meet its own quota, it extended the program until June 2028. That’s not one year of taxpayer funded internet, it’s more than three years.

The average Australian household pays $76 per month for their NBN plan. An eligible household on the SSBI plan pays nothing until mid-2028. That’s 38 months of free internet, totalling $2,888 per household, all funded by taxpayers. And what does it take to qualify? Simply having school aged children at home.

I have two primary school aged children, so I figured I’d apply. I filled in the online form and waited. A few days later, I received a text apologising for delays and promising a response within 5–10 business days. That deadline came and went.

So, I called.

After multiple 30-minute hold times, I finally got through. The representative on the other end was clearly bored and disinterested. After a short exchange, she sent me my voucher via email.

And by short exchange, I mean exactly two questions:

1. Do you currently have an NBN connection at home?

2. Do you have school-aged children?

That was it. No means testing. No proof required. The government is handing out nearly $3,000 worth of free internet to anyone willing to persistently call the hotline until they speak to someone.

Am I gaming the system? Not at all, I’m eligible exactly as the program describes. And frankly, given how much I pay in taxes each year, clawing back a few thousand dollars doesn’t faze me in the slightest.

Am I taking the spot of a more deserving family? Highly doubtful. The government has extended the program twice without increasing the 30,000-family cap. If there were genuinely 30,000 households without internet, they’d have found them by now.

Labor’s justification for SSBI was the COVID-era narrative about students without home broadband struggling with remote learning. There’s no doubt such families exist, but what does that actually mean?

We all prioritise our spending based on our circumstances. While home internet is essential for many, not everyone needs it. Pre-pandemic, many families got by just fine with 4G mobile data, school WiFi or public libraries. It’s entirely possible that, without lockdowns, they simply didn’t need home broadband.

But despite what socialists claim, internet access is not a human right. And choosing not to have a broadband plan doesn’t make you a charity case.

Beyond burning over $80 million of taxpayer dollars, SSBI also distorts the fixed internet market.

Readers of my last NBN article may recall I was an iiNet HFC customer, paying $54.99 per month for 100+ Mbps downloads. It was a great product, but it’s hard to compete with 'free.'

NBN isn’t just competing with private ISPs, it’s undercutting them so aggressively they can’t possibly compete. If the government weren’t struggling to find sign-ups, I’d be worried about iiNet’s future in HFC broadband.

Any company losing market share to a government-backed competitor offering zero-cost services has to cut back. Over time, that could mean abandoning their HFC network entirely, leaving NBN as the only fixed broadband option.

The government has set aggressive targets for NBN sign-ups and by squeezing out competitors, they’re making sure NBN hits those targets. Convenient, isn’t it?

If you’re eligible, you might as well take the deal. Why not? It’s your tax dollars at work.

But make no mistake, this isn’t about helping families. It’s another bloated, mismanaged government program, distorting the market and throwing millions down the drain.

I’d much prefer cost-of-living relief to come from cutting waste and reducing taxes, not through handouts that distort competition.