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.
I won't bother to counter this gross over-simplification of ATUG's role, because the most amazing aspect of NWAT's rant is that it does its own bit of 'morphing' of ATUG, declaring it to have 'lost sight of the fact that it was formed as a non-profit organisation, brokering relationships between telecommunications providers and other businesses."
Just a minute, I though you said it was formed as a lobby group for deregulation?
I've followed ATUG closely for most of its 26 year history and apart from a short-lived sideline called ATUG Extra that offered the services of telcos to members at discount rates I recall no such brokering role. The role of ATUG was, and still is to represent the interests of business users of telecommunications and to lobby for the delivery of the services they need where they need them at prices that reflect real costs and reasonable margins.
No doubt hoping that readers will not notice this sleight of hand, NWAT pontificates onwards "There is a basic rule of public administration and a basic rule of non-profit management – you can't be a 'broker' and a "player'. The two roles are incompatible... Despite the 'broker' role of the ATUG and the 'broker' disciplines that must be practiced by the leader of ATUG, its managing director continues to be highly visible in the media where she insists on being a 'player' - taking shots and taking sides - and not the neutral, even-handed 'broker' her job requires."
Being highly visible in the media, taking shots and taking sides. Isn't that just what a good lobbyist should be doing?
David Bass
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