Govt IT spending -willy nilly" - News - Communications

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Govt IT spending -willy nilly"

By Byron Kaye, ZDNet Australia
September 11, 2001
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Govt-IT-spending-willy-nilly-/0,130061791,120259830,00.htm

Australia's federal government yesterday announced a multimillion dollar injection into regional IT development, but one leading analyst has accused the government of throwing cash around -willy-nilly".

The AUD$52.2 million National Communications Fund was launched yesterday to support telecommunications projects within the health and education sectors in regional Australia.

The government said the money would be issued by competitive tender to organisations that proved they would improve regional telecommunications generally.

But telecommunications industry analyst Paul Budde said the spend was another step in a poorly integrated government spending plan. He said the Howard government had been hazy about its financial commitment to the IT industry.

-If it's not properly integrated then it doesn't have long-term sustainability," he said.

-The bigger picture in Australia is that we want a broadband network. But there is no blueprint. There is no plan. There is no vision. They're just spending it willy nilly."

Budde said regional telecommunications players were unlikely to be comforted by the latest government spend because those telcos were still waiting for help in gaining access to a nationwide broadband network.

Access to that network, which was withheld, was still the biggest problem regional carriers faced, he said.

-If you want to help telcos and their (broadband) infrastructure along, you're talking about a seven billion dollar payout," he said.