The announcement of Lauren Jackson as the American WNBA’s most valuable player officially confirmed her status as the world’s best female basketballer, and I join all Australians in offering Lauren our congratulations on this outstanding sporting achievement. Without doubt every television station in Australia will be clamouring for interview time with Lauren now that [...]
Monthly Archives: September 2003
Another nail in Tuckey’s coffin: ‘Fan’ referred to Cabinet
The decision to refer to Cabinet the proposal to build the controversial ‘Fan’ sculpture today shows that the Howard Government has lost confidence in the Minister for Territories, Wilson Tuckey. The decision follows a ‘please explain’ letter to the National Capital Authority (NCA) about the lack of consultation on the sculpture from the Joint Standing [...]
Gutless Tuckey, Vanstone use artists as scapegoats to scrap controversial ‘Red Fan’
Senator Vanstone’s attempt to use the artists as scapegoats is a disgrace when clearly the Howard Government is in damage control over the controversial ‘Red Fan’ proposal. Earlier today the word was that Cabinet was going to veto the proposal. However when Senator Vanstone’s statement came out late Monday night it exposed a shallow and [...]
Open Source in Government
Open Source Software: Providing Greater Security and Innovation in the Delivery of E-Government Services Open Source Software Conference Sydney 11 September 2003 Thankyou for the invitation to speak here today. I am going to start by taking a big picture view. The Information Age in which we all now live has brought with it two [...]
Labor announces resale rights for artists
Senator Kate Lundy, Shadow Minister for the Arts & Bob McMullan MP, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs Labor announces resale rights for artists The Labor party yesterday committed itself to implementing the visual arts community’s top priority – a Resale Royalty Scheme. A Private Member’s Bill is currently being drafted to implement these measures which [...]
Telstra does it again on broadband access
Telstra has admitted that yet another customer was denied a broadband service on the grounds of line condition when applying through a competitor, only to be later accepted when applying through Telstra’s BigPond. According to an answer to a Question on Notice, Telstra has admitted that the complaint occurred on 28 July 2003. This is [...]
Kemp’s Excuses Can’t Excuse the Facts
The Howard Government has a lot to answer for with respect to the Australian Sports Drug Agency revelation that the incidence of positive tests has increased for the first time since 1998. These results indicate that the government’s approach to anti-doping and its ability to properly communicate the risks and penalties associated with drug taking [...]
Mr Howard, Time To Move To Canberra
Mr Howard hasn’t done the sums on his choice to live in Sydney instead of Canberra. He admitted as much to ABC radio this morning. But the Sunday Telegraph has done the sums: they come to a grand total of over $1 million for the commuter VIP jet taxi to and from Canberra and Kirribilli. [...]
BITS program has created 757 new jobs…but Alston wants to axe it
Calls by Labor for the extension of funding to the Building on IT Strengths (BITS) Incubators beyond June 2004 have been vindicated, following a recently published independent report which found that the program played a crucial role creating opportunities for commercialisation in Australia. The Evaluation and Future of the BITS Incubator Program, conducted by Econtech, [...]
Coalition advocates sending local jobs overseas
I am outraged that the opening presentation at Australia’s ICT Outlook Forum has advocated greater overseas outsourcing at the expense of local jobs and opportunities. Australia’s ICT trade deficit is already a staggering $14 billion per annum and growing three times faster than the overall trade deficit. Despite this, the Howard Government is continuing to [...]
