Transcript: Stephen Conroy's opening address to media

The following is a transcript of the opening address of Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy to a Media Conference at Parliament House, Canberra on Tuesday September 15.
 

Telstra Tanks: Shareholders smell a Future Fund rat

Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner has rejected suggestions that the sell-down of Telstra shares by the Future Fund three weeks ago was in anticipation of the government’s announcement today of telecommunications regulatory reform.
 

Skills headache: NBN Co to deliver tech training programs

Anticipating deep shortages of technical and trade skills as it plans to roll-out its National Broadband Network, NBN Company executive chairman Mike Quigley says the venture will design and deliver its own specialist training courses with partners around the country.
 

Govt opens door to NBN changes to avoid Senate showdown

The Rudd Government has opened the door to Opposition amendments to its National Broadband Network legislation as both sides consider the headaches associated with a looming Senate stand-off.
 

Soaring wireless broadband numbers undermine NBN: Minchin

Australians’ fleeting love affair with DSL broadband is on the wane; DSL's share of the broadband market fell dramatically in the first half of the year, even as mobile broadband subscriber numbers boomed. The following is the text of a letter sent by the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Hon Kim Carr, to Enhanced Project By-law Scheme and Tariff Concession System stakeholders  
 

Govt procurement: AIIA warns on creeping protectionism

New Rudd Government measures to give Australian companies a better chance at winning large government contracts may just add a layer of cost and complexity to the bids, the Australian Information Industry Association has warned.
 

Victorians open KL office to spruik tech sector

Victorian trade authorities have identified Malaysia and Singapore as key export markets for the technology sector in the coming decade.
 

NSW readies website for Gov 2.0 data set downloads

The NSW Government has begun a long process of cataloguing all the data sets it collects and has now committed to making the free public availability of each set its default position in handling public information.
 

Tech skills: CIO Steward flattens demand spikes

The Australian Government will cope with expected skills shortages in the tech sector as the economy picks up through better management of public sector demand,  the Commonwealth's chief information officer Ann Steward says.
 

NICTA crowd sources through OpinionWatch research

Labor senator Kate Lundy is collaborating with Australia's peak ICT research agency NICTA on a 2.0-style crowd sourcing analysis application called OpinionWatch.