Stuart Corner
Monday, 08 December 2008 10:40
IT Policy -
Government Tech Policy
Page 1 of 2
A war of words has erupted between the Australian Local Government Assocation (ALGA) and the Federal Opposition following release by ALGA of it annual economic snapshot of Australia's regions which quantifies the considerable deleterious impact on regional Australia of inadequate broadband services.
Launching the report, prepared by National Economics, ALGA president, Geoff Lake, said "We must move to drag Australia into the world of modern communications. Last year's State of the Regions report identified $3.2 billion and 33,000 jobs lost to Australian businesses in 12 months due to inadequate broadband infrastructure. The current report indicates no improvement in these numbers for 2009."
The report predicts that "The outcome of the Federal Governments Request for Proposal (RFP) documentation in relation to the National Broadband Network will no doubt lay bare the years of misconceived telecommunications policy."
Lake said that ALGA "welcomes the high priority the Rudd Government has afforded the national broadband network...There is much ground to be made up. We must move now and move faster."
He said: "The report demonstrates that while policy issues have stalled the roll-out of the national network, business competitors overseas have created broadband services that are not only faster but also cheaper."
Shadow communications minister, Nick Minchin, reacted angrily to the comments saying the attacks on the former government were "baseless and ignore key facts."
"What the ALGA also conveniently ignores in its statement today is the fact the Rudd Labor Government cancelled the Coalition's broadband project for rural and regional Australia (OPEL), which would have delivered new, fast and affordable broadband services to more than 500,000 under served premises across the country by the middle of 2009," Senator Minchin said.
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