[LINK] Elders/Optus Rural/Wireless Broadband

[Roger Clarke]

A colleague just sent me this blast from the past.

It's a cracker:  "Enable remote communities outside the exchange
digitisation areas to obtain access to comparable services by
investigating the most appropriate lowest-cost technical options", eh?

Well, it does say 'investigate', and 11-1/2 years is a reasonable time
for an investigation, isn't it?


At 16:34 +1000 18/6/07, Kevin Jeffery wrote to me:
Check this out from the Coalition in opposition in 1995 - found it
while looking for some info for a job I am doing, but seems to
suggest it takes at least 12 years to get election promises into
place:
http://www.anu.edu.au/mail-archives/link/link1995/link9511/0135.html

From: kennedyd at par18.aph.gov.au
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 1995 15:59:02 +1100 (EST)
Subject: Coalition ISDN Announcement Message-ID: HOWARD PUTS AUSTRALIA
ONLINE

Today's announcement by the Leader of the Opposition that a Coalition
Government will provide access to fast digital services to all
Australian small businesses and private individuals will lay the
foundation for a vibrant and internationally competitive
communications services industry into the twenty-first century.
Speaking to the annual conference of the National Farmers'
Federation, Mr Howard outlined the Coalition's vision for a
commercially-driven advanced communications services industry, based
on a platform of fast digital communications to the home and small
office. Five separate initiatives were announced today. A Coalition
Government will:
* Require Telstra to adhere to a July 1997 target for the substantial
completion of the digitisation of telecommunications exchanges.
* Require Telstra to immediately offer fast, digital,
computer-quality services to all customers with lines connected to
digital exchanges.
* Bring these digital services within the price cap regime, so that
prices better reflect underlying costs.
* Enable remote communities outside the exchange digitisation areas
to obtain access to comparable services by investigating the most
appropriate lowest-cost technical options
* Establish a National Cultural Network in order to put Australia's
major public cultural institutions online.

While the Government's own Broadband Services Expert Group (BSEG) and
the National Information Services Council (NISC) have noted that the
development of the communications services industry requires access
to fast cheap digital transmission, the Government has failed to rise
to the challenge. It is simply unacceptable that a significant
proportion of the population, particularly in regional and remote
Australia, should be denied access to the same quality of service as
is available in metropolitan areas. Under the Coalition, more
competitive prices and better quality of service will enable the
online services industry to have a fair go at the national and
international markets which they must win to sustain their growth.
And all Australian businesses and consumers will have access to the
services required to put Australia at the forefront of the
Information Age.
______________________________________________________________________

Contact: David Kennedy 06 277 3605

-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/
			            
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Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW