"One day a rooster, the next day a feather duster!"
By LAURIE PATTON | 23 September 2020
This week’s capitulation – that’s what it is – by communications minister Paul Fletcher sets us on a course that hopefully will see Australia start moving in the right direction again as we head further into a digitally-enabled future. It’s a welcomed move, but we’d be wise to take a close look at the detail in his National Press Club address before getting too excited.
Continue reading “NBN glass still only half full”By LAURIE PATTON | 18 July 2020
With an increasing number of COVID-19 cases being reported across the country, especially in Melbourne and Sydney, regular scheduled meetings of the federal parliament have been cancelled.
This means the country will be run by a government that cannot be held accountable by the opposition and other non-government MP’s.
Perhaps it’s time for a virtual parliament? This is, after all, the 21st Century. We have the technology. Why not use it?
Continue reading “It’s time for a virtual parliament”By LAURIE PATTON | 11 May 2020
Australia’s Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese is right. In his latest vision speech he pointed to the benefits of decentralisation. It’s time we stopped cramming more and more people into already overcrowded cities. It’s predicted that pretty soon 90 percent of all Australians will live in our sprawling capitals. But does that really make sense?
The current health crisis has seen people forced to work from home. We’ve discovered that with modern technology we don’t all need to gather in CBD offices. It’s likely home working will continue when we emerge from the threat of the coronavirus.
Continue reading “The Opposition Leader is correct. We need a decentralisation plan”By LAURIE PATTON | 23 April 2020
So, the Attorney General Christian Porter will ban law enforcement agencies from accessing metadata from the proposed Coronavirus contact tracing app. What, just like he stopped them obtaining people’s web browsing history without a warrant under the data detention scheme?
Continue reading “Oh really, Harry? Our data is secure in government hands!”By LAURIE PATTON | 19 April 2020
Australia’s commercial television networks are in trouble. Not simply because of the Coronavirus but because they failed to develop effective strategies to counter the arrival of Netflix and other ‘streaming’ platforms – something anticipated long before it happened.
Last week the federal government threw the struggling networks a financial lifeline. It includes subsidies and deferred or waived fees and it reflects savage advertising revenue declines. Sadly for the viewing public however, local drama, children’s and documentary content quotas have been suspended.
Continue reading “Three Blind Mice — caught in the Netflix trap”By LAURIE PATTON | 10 April 2020
PREFACE.
Since publication, an inquiry into the the Victorian Government’s handling of its COVID-19 hotel quarantine program has heard that nobody could say where a decision to hire private security guards originated. In a rare move the responsible minister, Jenny Mikakos, actually resigned.
Earlier in the year federal Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy took ‘full responsibility‘ for a $60 billion over-estimation of the JobKeeper wage subsidy program. Yet he did not resign. Nor did anyone else.
Where does the buck stop these days? What should taking responsibility actually mean?
Continue reading “Passing the buck — why is there no accountability in public administration these days?”By LAURIE PATTON | 7 April 2020
As most of us are holed-up in our homes working or studying online as a response to the Coronavirus a bunch of politicians ignored medical advice and gathered together in Canberra. Perhaps it’s time for a virtual parliament?
Of course this would require that we first fix the NBN so that all our elected representatives and their advisors have decent broadband at home and in their electorate offices.
Continue reading “A virtual solution to 21st Century government”
By LAURIE PATTON | 6 April 2020
As we deal with COVID-19 people are being required to work from home. Students are doing their lessons online. Telehealth is becoming more common. All this will change the way we use the Internet forever.
In this article I’m focussing on a specific event which has highlighted a ‘digital divide’. But the problem goes well beyond the current situation. Access to the online world is denied to too many individuals and groups, including those living in remote areas, people with disabilities, Indigenous Australians and people from non-English speaking backgrounds.
Access to technology and ‘digital literacy‘ are two of the most critical issues confronting us in the digitally-enabled 21st Century. But to begin with Australia needs #BetterBroadband!
Continue reading “It’s never been more important to eliminate the digital divide”By LAURIE PATTON | 31 March 2020
As we all hunker down to work or study online at home in response to the Coronavirus, according to communications minister Paul Fletcher everything is fine and dandy thanks to the National Broadband Network.
The reality is many families will struggle with inadequate telecommunications, especially those NBN customers with the FTTN (fibre-to-the node) service delivered over old copper wires.
To be fair to Mr Fletcher, the culprits who destroyed a nascent 21st Century broadband network – Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Mitch Fifield – have all gone offline, so to speak. They’ve left parliament and they left behind something smelling like what comes out of the wrong end of the elephant in the room.
Continue reading “The minister and the elephant — a broadband tale”By LAURIE PATTON | 26 March 2020
Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s newly announced National COVID-19 Coordination Commission provides an opportunity for Australia to start planning for a post Coronavirus era.
The creation of the Commission can be viewed in one of two ways. Either he’s put together a group of highly accomplished individuals who are “doing their bit for the country”, to quote Mr Morrison, and they’ll deliver great ideas and practical plans. Or, it’s a classic example of ‘pass the parcel’ and henceforth the government will be able to say they just did what they were advised to do.
Continue reading “An opportunity for the Prime Minister’s National COVID-19 Coordination Commission to prove its mettle”