Greens go green at gills over goofy NBN private briefing offer

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Sunday, 21 November 2010 15:41

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

OMGreen - Australia's 'Green' party has refused the offer of a 'private briefing' on Australia's National Broadband Network business plan because of the Federal Government's onerous 'non-disclosure' restrictions that last up to 7 years!

Australia's journey towards a national, fibre-optic based broadband network to 93% of Australia's home and business premises keeps on taking weird turns in its 8-year long quest for completion.

Instead of bringing Australians fully on board with a plan that is sensible from both a roll-out and fiscal point of view, the Federal Government's unusual policy has been to throw as much money at the project as possible in the hope that if the Government builds it, Australians will happily come.

Of course, we don't know yet how much the NBN will truly cost to use, especially given that the current Tasmanian NBN users are getting special subsidies that artificially lower the price.

But even the Greens, a political party that is relatively ideologically aligned to the Federal Government, aren't giving Australia's Government a free pass in the NBN's construction, baulking instead at confidentiality clauses that could potentially last for years.

Again, it's a worry when Government isn't open and honest with its own political partners, let alone the general public, but that's the reality of politics. Sigh.

An article at Australia's ABC quotes Greens Senator Scott Ludlam expressing genuine concern, saying: 'It [the briefing offer] imposes a seven-year non-disclosure option, which would be voided for the material that the Government eventually does put into the public domain.

"The confidentiality will lapse but I have no idea how much they intend to hand over.

"So with great reluctance, I won't be accepting the private briefing."

Continued on page two, please read on!