Telstra today effectively conceded that its Internet service would never be up to scratch, by suggesting the 9.58% national increase in the number of Consumer Access Network (CAN) faults related to increased user demand on data services such as the Internet. “Telstra’s network, particularly in regional Australia where CAN faults increased by up to 50%, [...]
Monthly Archives: November 2002
Margaret Reid’s retirement – Libs treating the ACT with contempt
The announcement by local Liberal Gary Kent that Margaret Reid is about to retire as ACT Senator a year after she was re-elected contradicts Senator Reid’s personal commitments to Canberrans. At the last Federal election ACT Senator Margaret Reid committed to a three-year term. In the lead-up to the last federal election, I challenged Senator [...]
Health Bid Debacle
Adjournment Speech OASITO and HEALTH BID 19 November 2002 An Australian National Audit Office report, titled Health Group IT Outsourcing Tender Process, was undertaken at the request of the Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee. This request was made following a Senate Finance and Public Administration inquiry into the Coalition’s IT Outsourcing Program. During [...]
Another $14.4 billion ICT deficit
Under the Howard Government, Australians are missing out on high-wage jobs as Australia’s information and communications technology (ICT) trade deficit gets worse. A 2% decline in ICT exports has seen Australia post an ICT trade deficit of $14.4 billion for 2002-03. Professor John Houghton’s Australian ICT Trade Update 2003 also reveals a worrying decline in [...]
Venture Capital legislation finally emerges from Coalition black hole
Labor welcomes, at last, the tabling of the Government’s venture capital legislation in the House of Representatives yesterday, but notes that the Government has procrastinated for the past six months on the introduction of these bills, the Shadow Minister for Information Technology, Senator Kate Lundy said today. “The Government first promised this legislation during last [...]
Senator Alston, it’s called ‘archives’, you Luddite
Senator Alston may be the Minister for Information Technology, but he doesn’t even understand how web sites work. In a lame attempt to score a cheap political point, Senator Alston tried to attack me in the Senate today on the grounds that my web site contains all my speeches and media releases dating back to [...]
E-Government: Open source the key to security and innova
Open source software can provide greater security and innovation in the delivery of e-Government services, and should be investigated immediately by Government agencies and departments, the Shadow Minister for Information Technology, Senator Kate Lundy said today Speaking at the “e-Government Australia Summit” Senator Lundy argued that information and communications technology (ICT) systems built with open [...]
Serving the 21st Century Citizen
Serving the 21st Century Citizen E-Government: The Federal Opposition’s View E-Government Summit Royal Pines Gold Coast 7 November 2002 This is e-government week, so it timely to ask how Australia is performing. The findings of the United Nation’s Division of Public Economics and Public Administration Report titled Benchmarking E-Government: A Global perspective: Assessing the Progress [...]
Fahey finally tells the truth: tendering process for Health’s IT Outsourcing Program was without integrity
John Fahey has finally come clean and admitted that, as Minister for Finance, he believed that the Coalition’s $350 million IT Outsourcing deal with IBM-GSA for the Health Group could have been corrupted and should never have proceeded. In December 1999, IBM-GSA was one of three tenderers for the IT outsourcing contract for the Departments [...]
Telstra forced to come clean about pair gains
Telstra has finally agreed to come clean with phone users about the slow Internet speeds they could face if they have a second phone line installed. The move follows a complaint from Senator Kate Lundy to the ACCC, about Telstra’s deceitful use of “pair gain technology” which splits an existing phone line to provide two [...]
