Everyday I wonder how the heck Tony Abbott even came into power. The LNP are so backwards when it comes to technology, if they had their way schools would be te

Everyday I wonder how the heck Tony Abbott even came into power. The LNP are so backwards when it comes to technology, if they had their way schools would be teaching us to use a typewriter instead of a computer. This is just embarrassing, the rest of the world are laughing at Australia as our PM and his cohorts drag us back into the stoneage. Worth pointing out is the title is a little sensationalist and inaccurate as Tony didn't say specifically coding is a joke, but Tony's arrogance and sarcasm to me signals that he sees coding as a joke and not a viable industry that Australia should capitalise on for the future. We're talking about a guy who lets his religious beliefs get in the way of passing a bill to allow same sex couples to marry. Currently Australia is having some issues. A little while ago we hit a natural resources boom where the price of iron ore in particular (once one of our biggest exports) dropped so low that it has cost thousands of people their jobs and in turn has had a flow-on effect felt through the mining industry. The sad thing is, Tony Abbott seems to be stuck in this old mindset of Australia must export natural resources and beef, when we should be teaching children how to code. As a self-taught developer who has always had an interest in computers and coding, I wish when I went to primary school they taught basic coding in the higher grades (maybe 6 and 7). Funnily enough, my primary school actually had some visual basic programming books I would go to the library and lunch time, read and then hire out to experiment with at home. I was reading these in grade 3 onwards, even though a lot of it went over my head, I wanted to learn and nobody but myself to help me understand it. As everything becomes more automated and unskilled blue collar positions are replaced with driverless vehicles and bricklaying robots, moving towards a technology industry position makes sense. But there is a problem. We teach kids to code and then what, they get to use a sub-par internet infrastructure in the form of the LNP's NBN. A few years ago when Kevin Rudd was the PM he introduced the NBN (National Broadband Network) which was to be a fibre to the home internet infrastructure to help move Australia into the future. Sadly the LNP came into power and the claimed Labors plan was too expensive and they had a better plan, which was fibre to the node. A less sexy and future proof network that still relies on copper for the last mile or so to the users house from a junction box. The kicker is the minimum expected average speed will be 25mb, still better than I currently get, but a laughable speed compared to many parts of the world (including New Zealand). Things are pretty dire here. Some parts of the developed world have gigabit internet connections now, yet I can't even get decent speeds to stream Netflix in standard quality and I live 12 kilometers from the main CBD. We are stuck in the past. The good old days of the mining boom are behind us, experts are saying things will never be as good as they at the peak of the mining boom when one tonne of iron ore could fetch almost $200 per tonne, now it's like $40.