Picture this: it is October 2012. Our country has its first female prime minister, but we are far from living in a utopia of equality and female empowerment. In fact, quite the opposite is happening- the air is thick with misogyny aimed at Julia Gillard and everything she does comes under attack. Her gender, appearance, and her personal decisions, such as her choice not to have children, are disparaged daily by powerful politicians and by the media. For months she has been the target of sexist attacks that seem to ricochet, indirectly hitting every other Australian woman.

In 2009, the Kevin Rudd government hastily created a startup (the first time the Australian government has attempted such a venture) with the simple name “NBN Co” because, with the perceived urgency, there was no time to come up with a fancy name. The original goal was to achieve fast internet speeds by replacing infrastructure based on aging copper wiring with fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) broadband. Kevin Rudd envisioned the National Broadband Network as a transformative project to democratise high-speed internet access for all Australians. NBN was also a cornerstone of the Rudd government’s promised digital education revolution, with dedicated funding introduced to help schools to take advantage of the NBN.