The former government (centre-right Labor party) promised FTTH or FTTP (Fibre To The Home/Premises) but that was scrapped when the slightly-less-centre-and-more-far-right Liberal party got in and proposed FTTN (Fibre To The Node). The "Node" is a box at the end of every street, from which the existing (and rotting) copper network would theoretically connect to each home. Needless to say the idea is profoundly stupid.

FTTH is still available if you want to pay thousands of dollars for your connection, of course. We call this FTTR: Fibre To The Rich.

Not even purely fiber to the node any more, they are going with a "multi-technology mix"[1]

So by the end of 2020, 98% to 100% of the population would have at least 25Mbps[2]. Which is maybe twice as fast as what we have now on average (as a guess).

It is also way behind schedule and over budget[3], when being quicker and cheaper were its main selling points against the FTTP solution proposed by the Labor government.

[1] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/10/malcolm-turnbul...

[2]http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/dec/17/nbn-chairm...

[3]http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/dec/12/coalitions...