Australian Liberal Party outraged over Government comms fund ‘raid’

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Friday, 02 May 2008

Page 1 of 2 ! Bruce Billson, the Federal Opposition spokesman for Communications, is outraged that the Labor Party wants to use the existing AUD $2 billion Communications Fund for anything at all, aside from letting it generate around $100m in interest per year. Reading through the Liberal Party’s latest outraged press release, you get the idea that Opposition Parties could easily become great tabloid journalists and tabloid headline writers, because they’re always outraged about this, or that, or something else. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m about as big a fan of the Liberal Party as I am of the Labor Party and as I am about any political party and politicians in general. Which basically means I’m not really a fan of any of them at all... they all seem to be a waste of space, money, and media airtime in equal measure. But this article really isn’t supposed to be about my political persuasions (or lack of), but about the fact that the Liberal Party thinks that the Federal Government’s planned use of the $2b Communications Fund that the Liberal Party set up when they were in office is a bad, bad idea. Back to tabloid-ism. Billson says that the Labor Party (i.e., the Australian Government) is planning to “smash-and-grab” that $2b fund, which was supposed to, at least when the Liberal Party set it up, generate around $100m in interest per year which was to be spent on funding communications infrastructure in rural and regional Australia. With all the financial calamity going on around the world, I guess it depends what the Communications Fund money was invested in to generate all that interest, I hope none of it was invested in funds tied to US sub-prime mortgages or there could well be a lot less than $2b there now. Anyhoo, Billson says that: “[Federal] Communications Minister Stephen Conroy wants to raid the fund, lock, stock and barrel, yet cannot even say what the money will be spent on, which is extraordinary. His vague national broadband proposal is unravelling at the seams, with genuine concerns it will end in a train wreck.” Ah, more delicious tabloid-ism. Great stuff! If you enjoy tabloid style writing, and train wrecks which unravel on the seams of their train tracks, of course. So, what outraged the Liberal Party next? Please read onto page 2. << First page <   1 2 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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