This is the first part of a question-and-answer session between Kate Lundy, Shadow Minister for the Arts, Sport, and Information Technology, and Daryl Williams, Minister for Communications, Information Technology, and the Arts. Look for the second and final installment to this debate next month.
WILLIAMS: Having announced your intention to slash $140 million out of the IT budget dedicated to the National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE), how does Labor propose to continue the Government's valuable work on e-security, broadband, spam, e-business, and ICT productivity growth?
LUNDY: The Howard Government's decision to also scrap NOIE is a vindication of Labor's earlier decision to do it. It was embarrassing for the Government to follow Labor's initiative. NOIE has been largely ineffectual and wasteful and the Howard Government knew it. Why else would they still ditch it after Labor made our announcement? Surely the stronger political ground for the Government would have been to keep it?
By the way, Labor has not yet announced what we believe will be a better way to manage Government IT-related issues.
LUNDY: In your handover brief to your successor, what will you list as the three most pressing issues in order of priority?
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WILLIAMS: It's pretty hard to pick just three areas across a portfolio as wide-ranging as this so I'll keep it to ICT, in keeping with the theme of this exercise.
I would say the three most pressing issues in ICT are:
• Making sure the Australian ICT sector continues to be competitive, attract investment, create jobs and capitalise on our export opportunities, including those arising after the AUSFTA, consistent with the strategic plan for Australia's ICT industry, Framework for the Future (F3);
• Continuing to support innovation in the ICT sector and commercialisation of ICT innovation through initiatives such as the National ICT Centre of Excellence (NICTA) and the BITS Incubators as well as other Backing Australia's Ability initiatives; and
• Ensuring that the ICT sector continues to enjoy world-class infrastructure at competitive prices, in all parts of Australia, including maintaining the significant benefits that telecommunications competition has brought to the Australian economy and consumers, through lower prices and improved services.
WILLIAMS: Is Labor content to slash the 160 jobs associated with those valuable programs, now at the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) and the Office for the Information Economy (OIE), or have you managed to change the savings measure announced by your party?
LUNDY: As I have said, Labor has not yet announced what we believe will be a better way to manage Government IT-related issues. And anyway, since when has the Howard Government given two hoots about public service jobs? What about the thousands of public sector jobs lost in Canberra over the years?
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What about the lost opportunities for local IT companies when the ill-fated IT outsourcing program was introduced? What about the contraction in local ICT manufacturing during the IT boom? And wasn't it NOIE that was charged with preparing and selling the Howard Government's gospel that it was enough to be a user of ICT, not a producer?
LUNDY: Given the relatively poor state of broadband penetration in Australia, how does the Government intend to stimulate investment and the building of networks capable of providing real broadband (10Mbps plus)?
WILLIAMS: The signs are that the market in Australia is responding to the broadband needs and demands of Australian consumers and wherever possible, it is better to leave it to the market rather than have the government intervene.
There is also no clear sign that all Australians want a 10Mbps connection. Rather, different consumers have different requirements. For example, for some, the always-on facility is more important than the connection speed. We now have in the Australian market multiple broadband service providers offering a broad range of products over a variety of technologies to meet these consumer needs.
There are, however, a range of sectors where all levels of government have a role to play in stimulating investment in broadband networks and services. These are areas of traditional Government responsibility such as health, education, research, and security.
In these areas, the Government has done much to stimulate investment in high-end broadband networks through programs such as the Advanced Networks Program and the National Communications Fund. Under the Australian Research and Education Network, most Australian universities are now connected to multi-gigabit capacity networks and Australia’s research links to the US, Canada, and Europe are now in excess of 10Gbps.
While broadband services are available throughout the country, the Government has recognised a need to address some inequities in broadband pricing. As a result, the Government has launched the Higher Bandwidth Incentive Scheme (HiBIS) to make sure that regional consumers have access to broadband services at similar prices to metropolitan consumers.
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