This backward individual is the type of person the Howard government does not want anywhere near them as Australia moves into a new technology driven era. If we take his view of life we would all be relying on the land and mining to grow the Australian economy instead of attempting to introduce technology as means of delivering better education, more efficient facilities in our hospitals and a technology ecosystem that allows business to operate faster and smarter than in the past where Bill Heffernan still lives.

The problem with the likes of Bill Heffernan a former farmer who once did a welding course at Wagga Tech, is that they have no idea the pressure that Australian business is under from overseas competitors who have access to fast broadband based technology that is being denied to all Australians.

Unfortunately the Australian governments have more technology luddites like Bill Heffernan than individuals who have a white hot passion to push Australia to the forefront of the technology revolution that is taking place around the world with the exception of Australia.

Broadband is a critical infrastructure that is as important to the nation as a good transport system. And while I don't support Labor or its plan, I do believe that the lack of a fast broadband network in Australia is going to damage Australia long term.  Labor has got one issue right. We need to put into place fast broadband now. We need fast broadband speeds for education in our schools, in our hospitals and across the business ecosystem.  We need to get broadband into homes not just for entertainment or emails but for security systems as well for environmental reasons where the use of power can be better controlled over an IP based network.

The potential economic importance of electronic commerce, and the role of broadband in supporting e-commerce, has increasingly led governments to place emphasis on facilitating access to broadband networks, but in Australia politics has entered the equation and the likes of Peter Samuels at the ACCC are now trying to stop the likes of Telstra from spending billions on a fast new network because in Samuels' opinion they should be providing a leg up to foreign owned networks like Optus or AAPT  to compete in the Australian market without contributing to Telstra's infrastructure costs. Telstra, last year ditched plans for a $4 billion fibre-optic network when negotiations with the competition watchdog over regulatory and pricing issues broke down.

Telstra has indicated that its idea for the network is not completely off the agenda, but it rightly wants some guarantee that its massive investment won't be exploited by its rivals at the expense of Telstra shareholders.

Meanwhile, the so-called "group of nine" telcos - including number two Optus, which is seriously considering investing in its own network  and eight smaller companies - welcomed the Labor plan this week, but then why wouldn't they? Take Optus for example. They are owned by Singapore Telecom which in turn is owned by the Singapore Government. So for them to access capital money from the Australian Government as opposed to the Singapore Government makes a whole lot of sense for them but not the Australian people.

To a large extent the emphasis  in Australia has been on a range of policies aimed at supporting development and diffusion of high speed network capability in the local market. Although  broadband infrastructure deployment is in the process of development and the extent to which it will cover the entire population in Australia is not clear it is politics that is holding back the role out of a fast broadband  network.

As for the Future Fund my view is that if Australia has the capital to fund a broadband network they should loan it out to commercial enterprises like Telstra or Optus on commercial rates of interest. This would have to be repaid over a 10 year period or re financed at the end of the period.

For Australians your future is in the hands of idiots like Bill Heffernan who, while having the ear of John Howard, have zip to offer on the future of technology.