[bmunro]

Well, governments fund roads, schools, etc, and they don't expect to make financial returns on those.

However, the national broadband network is funded through government loans, but expects to make a profit on the returns from it.

So there is quite a difference in terms of the Government budget. The former are a cost to the budget, with ongoing expense and no expectation of any monetary returns. The latter is forecast to take nothing out of the government budget.