The Government has offered Australia's three mobile operators, and vividwireless, renewal of their existing spectrum allocated on 15 year licences in the late 90s and early 2000s at set prices, while the Government expects to rake in $3 billion.
As part of a minimalist reshuffle, Ms Gillard handed former Trade Minister Simon Crean her former portfolio's of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, and folding Trade into Stephen Smith's Foreign Affairs portfolio.
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was left out of the Cabinet, although Ms Gillard said she would be delighted to see Mr Rudd serve in a senior position after the election, when a more substantial shuffle is expected.
Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner, who announced last week he would retire from politics at the next election, will stay in the portfolio until he goes.
The minimalist nature of the reshuffle was not unexpected, with Ms Gillard saying she wanted to maintain stability in the team.
"It is best to have as limited a reshuffle as possible to keep the maximum stability amongst the team," Ms Gillard said. "The premium I've put is on stability."
It was never really expected that Senator Conroy would be relieved of responsibility for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. But that didn’t stop a loud campaign of wishful thinking in parts of the technology sector calling on the Prime Minister to shift him.
The anti-filter lobby group OpenInternet had called for Senator Conroy to be replaced by ACT Senator Kate Lundy, who is a former shadow communications spokesman. OpenInternet has argued Senator Conroy did not understand the internet, pointing to what it says is an unworkable ISP-level mandatory filtering plan that poses a threat to privacy and personal freedom.
Mr Rudd issued a statement saying she respected the Prime Minister's decision to leave him out of Cabinet. He said his immediate plan now was to take a short break before returning to duties in his electorate and working toward ensuring Labor retains government at the next election.
He restated his plan to contest his Queensland seat of Griffith at the election.
David Bass
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