Telstra's privatization has done much more harm to Australia's internet than good (Just look at the cost of Internet in Australia VS what it COULD be).
Privatizing Telstra, which owns the infrastructure (and resells it to competitors), and selling it directly to consumers (through BigPond) was a recipe for disaster.
The single act of not part taking in the trials doesn't make up for the huge mistake the Howard government made in privatizing Telstra. (I'm all for privatization, but the Howard government should have separated the (wholesale) Infrastructure and retail businesses before selling it)
Privatisation without proper deregulation is little better than maintaining a state-owned monopoly.
When privatising, only one approach makes sense: Selling off all shares and ownership stakes held by the government in the incumbent operator and taking serious steps to make the regulatory environment as amenable to new competitors as possible. If that means selling off the retail side and the infrastructure side separately, so be it.
It's not privatisation that was the mistake, it was the half-hearted politically timid way it was carried out that left Telstra as an effectively monopolist entity with the regulatory environment to help it remain one.
What! Stop destroying inner-city kids' dreams! Don't you know that if every kid in America had access to broadband, this country could be competitive in the international marketplace again?
And another stupid idea goes down in flames (I hope). We need more govt. failures like this. At least until politicians get tired of promoting idiotic politically expedient barely half-thought out ideas.
