[LINK] Parliamentary Report on National Broadband Network

[Tom Worthington]

The report "Broadening the debate: Inquiry into the role and potential 
of the National Broadband Network" has been released by the Australian 
House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure and 
Communications: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/ic/NBN/report.htm

The full report is 426 pages, available as one 4.3 Mbyte PDF file or 
chapter by chapter (with a HTML version to follow). This is a mostly 
upbeat report about what the NBN could be used for (if we had it), 
rather than looking into the cost of building it.

REPORT TABLE OF CONTENTS:

*   Preliminary pages: Contents, Foreword, Committee Membership, Terms 
of Reference, List of Abbreviations and List of Recommendations

Chapters:

1.  Introduction
2.  Government services
3.  Health
4.  Education
5.  Infrastructure and the environment
6.  Economic development and diversification
7.  Research and innovation
8.  Community and social
9.  Network capacity and technology
10. Government coordination

* Dissenting report: Mr Paul Neville, MP, Mr Paul Fletcher, MP, Mrs Jane 
Prentice, MP

* Appendices

A.  Background
B.  Glossary of Terms
C.  Submissions
D.  Exhibits
E.  Public Hearings

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1.  That the Government continue to coordinate the implementation of the 
National Digital Economy Strategy across government, ensuring 
appropriate regulatory frameworks are in place and promoting a 
consistent trans-sector approach to supporting its goals.

2.  That the Government require its departments to report against the 
goals identified in the National Digital Economy Strategy in their 
annual reports.

3.  That the Government continues to implement broadband-enabled 
technologies into its own services and operations as a means of 
improving efficiency, as well as to encourage NBN uptake and utilisation.

4.  That the Government continue to support strategically targeted pilot 
projects in cooperation with relevant industries and communities that 
model innovative applications of the NBN.

5.  That the Government consider allocating resources to each Regional 
Development Australia committee to allow these bodies to provide 
enhanced local digital economy leadership. This leadership role should 
include identifying regional goals and implementing related strategies 
and programs.

6.  That the Federal Government develop a comprehensive engagement 
strategy incorporating a range of approaches to promote the uptake of 
broadband and digital technologies during the NBN rollout.

7.  That, recognising the important roles of public libraries and 
community centres, the Federal Government works in an appropriate 
capacity to implement a network of public access points connected to 
high speed NBN services in as many communities as possible.

8.  That the Federal Government, with other organisations as 
appropriate, develop targeted programs for those currently disadvantaged 
by the digital divide to improve awareness of publicly available 
high-speed internet facilities, to improve access, and to promote the 
development of relevant skills.

9.  That the Government provide continued support for organisations 
involved in the development of high speed broadband applications.

10. That the Government maintains regulatory support to encourage 
increased levels of research and innovation in the private sector and 
recognises the NBN’s importance to the realisation of its innovation agenda.

11. That the Government develop a strategy for the digitisation of 
Australia’s culturally and historically significant content.

12. That the Government facilitate discussions between representatives 
of key content industries and internet service providers to work towards 
an agreed framework for minimising online copyright theft.

13. That the Government provide further support for digital literacy 
programs, based on the Broadband for Seniors kiosk model, making use of 
existing resources such as libraries and not-for-profit groups where 
possible.

14. That the Government continue to support programs that equip small 
and medium enterprises with the knowledge and support they need to 
compete in the digital economy.

15. That the Government develop strategies for the collection and 
provision of data on workforce needs in the ICT sector into the future.

16. That the Government develop a long term strategy to up-skill and/or 
retrain the existing workforce and develop new training programs to 
address emerging skills gaps.

MY SUBMISSION CITED:

My submission "Broadband for a Broad Land" has been cited six times in 
the report. I suggested the NBN could help with education, but this will 
require a large investment in teaching teachers how to teach on-line (a 
topic I am studying on-line). Also I discussed how the NBN could help 
the environment, but this would take some planning and investment: 
http://blog.tomw.net.au/2011/02/broadband-for-broad-land-draft.html

While it says in the report "... Mr Worthington also told the Committee 
...", the committee did not ask me to give verbal evidence and has gone 
just by what was in the written submission. This shows the value of a 
carefully written submission, which has been formatted so it is easy to 
cut and paste from. ;-)

My quotes:

* Chapter 4: "Education", page 94: 
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/ic/NBN/report/P1%20Ch%204%20Education.pdf#page=34

* Chapter 5: "Infrastructure and the environment", pages 97 and 99: 
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/ic/NBN/report/P1%20Ch%205%20Infra%20and%20Environment.pdf#page=1


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards 
Legislation

Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/
Visiting Scientist, CSIRO ICT Centre: http://bit.ly/csiro_ict_canberra