Australian Minister for Broadband resigns
gizmodo.com.au
gizmodo.com.au
Amazingly, Turnbull, the opposition's communications minister, is even worse.
In their launch, Turnbull looked quite sheepish the entire time. Turnbull should be the opposition leader, not the Communications Minister, but that's for another debate.
BTW he was also the guy who wanted to:
* censor Australia's internet with a filter * limit the freedom of the press
That guy shouldn't be in charge of a kindle, let alone the communications and internet strategy of a modern nation.
I'm sure he did some fine work regarding not getting in the way of the NBN, but the censorship is what he'll be remembered for.
You'd be surprised how much worse candidates for the position are out there. I'm no fan of censorship or filters, but can respect the man's work and the effort he put in to understand things.
No it's mostly based on direct quotes.
>> You'd be surprised how much worse candidates for the position are out there.
I'm sure there are far worse candidates out there! Let's hope none of them get a sniff of power either.
>> I'm no fan of censorship or filters, but can respect the man's work and the effort he put in to understand things.
Good for you, I find repressive, censorious measures pretty offensive so I'm sorry if I don't share your viewpoint.
I still feel it's unfair to vilify the man personally like the Australian internet has done so for the past several years. When censorship and filtering proposals return with someone else at the helm, is it still Conroy's fault?
Not to worry, I'm not even an Australian voter, I'm just a brit that bailed a year or so before citizenship was an option, though I do love the country and am under no illusions anywhere else is politically superior.
Again, sorry, but I don't share your viewpoint, the censorship stuff is not something I would overlook because of other, more positive work.
You don't need to apologise for not sharing my view, but you do need to realise things aren't as black-and-white as you like to see them.
I understand that a guy in high public office may have done a few good things while there, as well as being on the side of some stuff that many people consider inherently evil and anti-democratic.
I don't care who proposed it. I don't care if it was initially someone else's idea. I don't care if it's party policy and he just got the job of putting his face and political power behind it. He still did and said all those things and to my mind should have no place in politics as a result.
He spends a lot of time on Whirlpool (Australian broadband forums) and interacts with the community. I feel a sorry regarding how the media is almost universally anti-NBN (National Broadband Network). The current uptake rates for the NBN are impressive: hockey stick, yet the media go on about asbestos or whatever gets more views / clicks.
On the Labor side of politics I don't think there's anybody that could continue championing the NBN like he has.
The NBN thing is good. Pretty much everything else out of the mans mouth has been "We know what's best for you"
No matter what else you do, that characteristic doesn't belong in a representative democracy.
The opposition leader (Abbott) is worse on the matter - see RU486, but two wrongs don't make a right, and it's a great thing that he's gone.
The media (especially Murdoch's group, which part owns FoxTel) is threatened by fast broadband.
Lurking on Whirlpool isn't a skill required for championing sensible communications policy.
http://powerhouse.theglobalmail.org/the-australian-governmen...
In general, given a few years, most ministers will sound pretty competent in any given portfolio. Senior ministers tend be the smarter breed, and if you're surrounded daily by people whose job it is to know everything about something, eventually some of that knowledge will rub off.