The Coalition's attempt to delay the government's telecommunications reform package hangs in the balance as independents Steven Fielding and Nick Xenophon wait to meet with Communications Minister Stephen Conroy.
This afternoon Communications Minister Stephen Conroy described his opposite, Senator Nick Minchin, as a Luddite as he took questions from reporters on the Opposition's attempt to block the government's wide-ranging telecommunications industry reform legislation, which includes provisions to force the break-up of Telstra.
Industrial action by the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) in New Zealand has seen over a hundred engineers on Auckland's North Shore walk out of their jobs in a lightning strike.
Telstra, Optus, Microsoft, Deloitte and Macquarie Telecom donated thousands of dollars to NSW political parties in the second half of 2008, the state's Election Funding Authority has revealed.
The reaction across the pond in New Zealand to the Federal Government's $43 billion network announcement is one of surprise at the size of the proposed investment, and "the Aussies trumped us again".
Rural areas will be welcoming the government's decision to put its money where its politicising is, funnelling $250m into a regional fibre upgrade to six rural centres. Remedying over a decade of near-neglect at the hands of telecoms privatisation, the investment could be the firmest step yet for Labor's NBN dream but with inevitable political questions and a looming election, Rudd and Conroy need to deliver, and quickly, to preserve the NBN's credibility.
This afternoon Communications Minister Stephen Conroy described his opposite, Senator Nick Minchin, as a Luddite as he took questions from reporters on the Opposition's attempt to block the government's wide-ranging telecommunications industry reform legislation, which includes provisions to force the break-up of Telstra.
New Zealand's new Communications Minister Stephen Joyce has the gargantuan task of dragging New Zealand into the next broadband age, a labour which will take 10 years.
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