Turnbull: We won’t rip up the NBN if we’re elected.

Member of Parliament Malcom Turnbull, former leader of the opposition, said that the Coalition wouldn’t rip up the fiber laid by the NBN if they win the next election in an interview with the ABC.

Turnbull said that while the Coalition maintains its position that the NBN’s goal of accessible fast broadband for all citizens could be achieved by more cost-effective means, they would not reverse any of the work the government does over the next couple of years.

“There’s no question of anything being destroyed or ripped up or terminated or anything like that. I imagine that a lot of the infrastructure that will have been built by the time of the next election,” he said.

But while much of the work would’ve been done by then, it still won’t be complete, and the Coalition will take that opportunity to make changes to the remaining rollout.

A mix of fiber, fixed wireless and satellite solutions is the most cost-effective way to service the nation, he said — though it doesn’t take much more than a storm to take a satellite connection down.

Having lived in not one, but two first release sites that were axed due to independent bargaining after the last election, I wasn’t holding my breath for fiber anyway.

The interview took place on the anniversary of Kevin Rudd’s removal from the Prime Ministership. “I think that is one of the many factors that is gnawing away at her leadership,” said Turnbull of Gillard’s part in those events.