MinimalStateStephen Conroy
Losing the filter without losing face
This week the Australian Labor Party installed Julia Gillard as its new leader, making her the first female Prime Minister of Australia. This change in leadership provides the government with an opportunity to change its approach to certain policy issues without losing (quite so much) face. The new PM has wasted no time in seizing [...]
NBN not mandatory for ‘smart grids’
One of the claimed benefits of the national broadband network (NBN) is that it will act as an enabler for ‘smart grids’. ’Smart grids’ have been described as electricity distribution networks that: “use sensors, meters, digital controls and analytic tools to automate, monitor and control the two-way flow of energy across operations—from power plant to [...]
NBN Study: Were the right questions asked?
Earlier this month, the Australian government released the implementation study for the National Broadband Network. The scope of the study was to: “advise Government on how best to implement its stated policy objectives, not to evaluate those objectives, given that the policies have already been agreed by Government. This report therefore focuses on translating high-level policy [...]
Internet censorship: not dead, just sleeping
With the Australian government delaying introduction of its internet censorship legislation, there’s been some speculation that the policy may be dead. The more likely scenario however is that the policy has simply gone in to hibernation until after the Federal election. Despite the media and blogosphere cries of “backflip”, this is a smart tactical move. Tactically, delaying [...]