Australian Information Industry Association CEO Sheryle Moon has called upon the new Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, to outline a schedule for rolling out a national broadband network.
A report yesterday claimed that the cost of implementing a national broadband network could lead to an increase of 50 percent or more on home phone and Internet bills, but one analyst believes the only way to keep prices down is to leave Telstra out.
The Liberals have accused the Labor government of "breaking another election promise" after Senator Kim Carr was unable to confirm that high-speed broadband access will be made available to schools in time to accompany government's planned one-PC-per-desk rollout for high school students.
On the first official day of the federal election campaign, Labor has placed IT at the centre of its agenda for growth, issuing a challenge to the Coalition on broadband and procurement.
Should Labor get into power at the federal election next month, its promised "education revolution" rebate would be better spent on the world's largest single order for Negroponte's XO laptop instead of being a boon for traditional PC retailers and a certain software vendor from Redmond.
The council rubbish truck didn't pick up my bin last week. Instead, the garbage contractor left a big yellow sticker highlighting exactly why my old egg shells, rancid fruit, microwave pizza boxes, an ancient and smelly pair of sneakers, and the odd brick had been left to rot on my property.
If there ever were concrete evidence that Labor is blowing smoke up the proverbials of the Australian population, it came earlier this month as Senator Stephen Conroy, the man charged with promoting Labor's fibre-everywhere policy while simultaneously taking potshots at his counterpart Senator Helen Coonan, put his foot squarely in his mouth.
As Rudd and Conroy railroad the NBN into reality, the Liberals are trying to inject some due process into the whole thing by holding Labor accountable for its decisions. However, with the future of Australian telecoms on the line and no real viable alternative, is it just a bit late for accountability?
What a difference a decade makes.
If someone gave you AU$93.5 million to spend, would you forget it? I wouldn't either. But this is exactly what seems to have happened in the aftermath of the 2007/8 federal budget, which was widely lambasted by many observers -- including yours truly -- for its lack of funding for meaningful ICT related initiatives.
An analysis by representatives of Australia's two largest IT industry groups shows that neither political party in the federal election has come up with a comprehensive policy around technology.
Many would love to see the Pirate Party and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy face off in the Australian Senate, but the unorthodox political party doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning the necessary votes.
Ahead of the election, with promises for nationwide broadband networks and digital revolutions in schools, the ICT industry could hope the government was on their side. But now the glamour of a sparkling new government has worn off, how ICT-friendly is the Rudd government really?
Yesterday's report from the Australian Computer Society's Filtering and E-Security Task Force will be a handy weapon in Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy's battle over internet censorship.
On the same day that the bids for the national broadband network bids were handed into the government, Australia, Baz Luhrman's vain masterpiece was released to the plebs.
Ben Forta: All about Adobe
Take one ColdFusion veteran and mix in a healthy dose of prolific book writing, and chances are you will end u… Watch it now
Google CEO Eric Schmidt
Google's chief sits down for an extremely rare, wide-ranging interview and discusses Google's two operating sy… Watch it now
Telstra shareholders fear break up
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Having problems with complex data center? Simplify your data center now.
Can not-so-smart meters help the NBN?
Can the Telco Reform Act be win-win?
Has New Zealand's smiling assassin delivered?
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