Australian and U.S. officials have agreed that they should work together to rid the world of space junk.

To the many readers who printed out my last column just so they could set it on fire, I confess: In relation to the National Broadband Network, yes, I drank the Kool-Aid.

The Nationals have done their rural and regional constituent base a huge disservice by supporting a Coalition policy that would dismantle the Government's National Broadband Network. And its Queensland senator Barnaby Joyce knows this better than anyone.

All the momentum in this so far tedious federal election campaign has been Tony Abbott's, delivering opinion polls suggesting for the first time that he is a real chance of becoming Australia's next Prime Minister – and that the Coalition can make good its promise to scrap the national broadband network.

Stephen Conroy has retained the Communications portfolio in newly-installed Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s first Cabinet.

The generational change that saw Kevin Rudd swept to power in 2007 brought with it great expectations from a local technology sector which had struggled for a decade to convince John Howard that the industry deserved a bigger priority profile in national affairs.

South Australian independent senator Nick Xenophon has renewed calls for the creation of a government Online Ombudsman to respond to public concerns about offensive or illegal postings on social networking sites.

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey has confirmed the Coalition will halt the $43 billion National Broadband Network project in its tracks if it is elected later this year, saying Kevin Rudd is risking massive expenditure on a "technology punt."

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd this morning threw more wood on the fiery debate about the Government’s internet filtering plans, saying it wouldn’t apologise for pushing ahead with the initiative.

Australia will spend $69 million building the technology infrastructure for biometric checks of visa applicants from countries considered a high risk of producing potential terrorists as part of Government's long-awaited Counter-Terrorism White Paper.