Imagine a billion dollars of tax payers' money going to Singapore Airlines to compete with Qantas?

That is the scenario that John Durie in The Australian today makes when comparing the billion dollar funding to Singapore Government owned Optus to duplicate Telstra shareholder paid for infrastructure.

The Australian article questions the Federal Government’s Broadband Connect funding agreement and makes the point that the Broadband Connect funding decision is based on a tender process in which only one company was allowed to bid. The article goes on to say that this is "...an atrocious piece of public administration that has gone largely unnoticed."

The article posses the question, "Imagine the outcry if Singapore Airlines was given a couple of the new big jumbo planes and $1 billion to compete with Qantas on the Pacific route."

The article goes on to question the Government's FTTN panel, "The committee on one reading is stacked against Telstra - being full of Treasury and ACCC alumni and of course is serving to buy the Government time until after the election."

Read the full article:

• Telstra on hold for election (www.theaustralian.news.com.au)