One thought on “Telstra’s triple-zero failure is a result of prioritising neoliberal ‘competition’ and reaping none of its benefits”
Either Tom Petty or Sean Leahy had a satirical cartoon in the Courier Mail in the days of Telstra privatisation called “The Fabulous Isle of Telstra”, IIRC. One theme from that or another such cartoon at the time was the notion of people idiotically buying what they had already owned (collectively of course). There were many such cartoons at the time. Leunig was also putting them out too. It resulted in a massive transfer of wealth from all the people to a few rich people. Seems like our political cartoonists of the time knew well that privatisation was a load of tripe. Anyone motivated could likely find some of these cartoons in:
My son did his Firmware Engineering compulsory work experience at Telstra. He was highly unimpressed by the organisation. In conversation with me at the time he vowed he would never work for them and never invest in them. He certainly kept to that.
My personal view is that Australia is irreversibly ruined in every way possible, economically, politically, socially and environmentally. It was all done essentially by privatisation and neoliberalism. We still see no real movement away from neoliberalism, though forlorn hopes still abound. Neoliberalism keeps intensifying its hold on the nation. I do see this all as irreversible at this late stage. If you damage something too much it can never be repaired.
John Quiggin 
Either Tom Petty or Sean Leahy had a satirical cartoon in the Courier Mail in the days of Telstra privatisation called “The Fabulous Isle of Telstra”, IIRC. One theme from that or another such cartoon at the time was the notion of people idiotically buying what they had already owned (collectively of course). There were many such cartoons at the time. Leunig was also putting them out too. It resulted in a massive transfer of wealth from all the people to a few rich people. Seems like our political cartoonists of the time knew well that privatisation was a load of tripe. Anyone motivated could likely find some of these cartoons in:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/
My son did his Firmware Engineering compulsory work experience at Telstra. He was highly unimpressed by the organisation. In conversation with me at the time he vowed he would never work for them and never invest in them. He certainly kept to that.
My personal view is that Australia is irreversibly ruined in every way possible, economically, politically, socially and environmentally. It was all done essentially by privatisation and neoliberalism. We still see no real movement away from neoliberalism, though forlorn hopes still abound. Neoliberalism keeps intensifying its hold on the nation. I do see this all as irreversible at this late stage. If you damage something too much it can never be repaired.