[LINK] Coonan vs Conroy: What are the top issues?

[Marghanita da Cruz]

Howard Lowndes wrote:
> 
> 
> Stilgherrian wrote:
>> Gentle Linkers,
>>
>> Next Friday morning 5 October I'll have the "pleasure" of seeing ICT
>> minister Helen Coonan and her Labor counterpart Stephen Conroy discuss
>> things in front of a bunch of ACS members.
>>
>> http://www.acs.org.au/index.cfm?action=event&area=9010&temID=eventdetails&ev 
>>
>> eID=10085474346427
>>
>> I'll be writing a piece for Crikey that day, so I'm wondering... what 
>> do you
>> reckon are the three most important ICT issues in this forthcoming 
>> federal
>> election?
>>
>> This isn't an invitation to regenerate screeds of stuff that's already 
>> been
>> posted, but some indicator like this would be nice:
>>
>>  1. Broadband rollout in the bush
>>  2. Protecting children from online predators
>>  3. Converting community TV to digital
> 
> Getting the free-to-air broadcasters to actually provide the programs on 
> digital that they provide on analogue.  Where I live (Albury) many of 
> the HD offerings are in demo mode only and WIN gave up broadcasting 
> programs about a week ago and now only broadcast demo on every channel - 
> their HD didn't work anyway.
> 
<snip>
I attended a similar discussion/debate prior to this years NSW election. At the time
John Delabosca was the NSW minister for commerce, he is now minister for
education. The name of the then NSW Shadow minister for commerce escapes me.

Delabosca seemed to come out of it quite well, empathised with IT people in the
room, as he said he was proud of his two kids doing engineering and spoke of the
Gaming
stuff happening in Sydney. Note this piece in Tuesday's  Australian
<http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22484637-5013040,00.html>

There seemed to be some reference to legal stuff, which the NSW shadow minister
empathised with others in the room on....it could be related to this puff piece
in Tuesday's Australian
<http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,24897,22475094-24173,00.html>

The question I submitted, was asked by the moderator in wrapping up the
session - What would each do in government to facilitate remote/tele working?
(bearing in mind that workers in Sydney spend 1.5 hours up traveling to work
places each day, the cost of real estate and impact on the environment).

This relates to the provision of broadband outside the CBDs,
including employment, training and education  for farmers
being compensated to walk off their farms
<http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/150000-offer-to-leave-the-land/2007/09/25/1190486309981.html>

Marghanita
-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
http://www.ramin.com.au
Phone: (+61)0414 869202