Conroy wins bigger comms role

By Ry Crozier on Sep 11, 2010 6:14 PM
Filed under Telco/ISP

Cabinet shake-up.

Stephen Conroy retained his broadband, communications and the digital economy portfolio in a cabinet shake-up announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard today.

He would also take on additional responsibility in a minority Labor Government as the "Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Digital Productivity".

Conroy had been one of the names tipped for the finance minister role that was vacated by Lindsay Tanner before the election.

Tanner retired and had since taken on a role at Victoria University.

Tanner's finance ministerial role went to the former climate change minister Penny Wong.

23 comments in this discussion

"On the note of Tasmanian deployment of NBN being under budget, it actually was overbudget according to specifications. Even though they only spent 90% of the original allocated budget, they only ..."

By deteego

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Comments: 23

djzort Sep 11, 2010 7:35 PM	Its going to be enjoyable watching Turnbull trash Conroy.
mck Sep 11, 2010 10:39 PM	"Digital Productivity" ???! The only productive thing Conroy knows how to do is to obtain funding by big media companies to pay for the NBN by promising them that faster internet speeds won't mean more filesharingof their content. "RC content is just a smokescreem".
thestudios Sep 11, 2010 11:34 PM	We say, 'No, Don't Don't Don't!', and the government says, "Yes, Do Do Do!". Incredible! The government never ceases to amaze me!
epimetheus Sep 12, 2010 2:49 PM	The only part of digital that Conroy understands is the part that he cannot extract! One can only thank one's lucky stars that he was not appointed as Finance Minister! Mind you we may now find the dollar being changed for the yen or baht or whatever! One thing is for sure the economy will only go wong...........never wite!
thor Sep 12, 2010 6:40 PM	I only hope Turnbull actually gets decent information from the so-called experts. the alternative to the labor NBN has been nothing but a disgrace.
pameacs Sep 13, 2010 8:22 AM	I am going to be looking for forward to how exactly he kills off the Internet Filter, remember he has no mandate for it, I think that most against the filter where pro the NBN and Labor scraped in a few votes that otherwise with a better plan from the opposition, would have Conroy looking for a new job as well.
wjc Sep 13, 2010 9:51 AM	New KPI for Senator Conroy - "pair-gain" / no real broadband fixed for those Telstra "victims" by Dec 2011! "Digital productivity" - if Senator Conroy is "fair dinkum" he has to immediately start to remove the "digital divide", often referred to by that great Labor man Barry Jones, caused by the Telstra RIM/Pair Gain mess - and do it FAST. At 30Kbits/sec there is NO DIGITAL PRODUCTIVITY at all and too many Australian regional and outer suburban small businesses and citizens are still in that no-modern-broadband "boat". Let's set a KPI for the incoming Minister - "pair gain" blackspots to be 100% gone by end of 2011! (KPI = Key Performance Indicator).
Ace Sep 13, 2010 10:04 AM	NOOoooo....!! For gods sake, put Rob Oakeshott in charge of the filter! There be a lot of long rambling speeches, but nothing will ever happen.
MichaelJM Sep 13, 2010 10:25 AM	What this indicates is the level of indebtedness that Prime Minister Julia Gillard finds herself in to the NSW ALP party hacks that put her in power. Given the importance that the NBN has to the two independents that supported her, appointing a complete and utter dork like Senator Stephen Conroy makes one wonder just how long this government will last.
laman Sep 13, 2010 10:33 AM	Penny does not seem to know much about Climate Change, does she know about finance? It worries me alot when those ministers are moving around in different position irrespect of their knowledges and capabilities. Or are most ministers are so knowledgeable that they have expertise in different areas?
umbria Sep 13, 2010 11:07 AM	Senator Conroy admirably stuck to his guns over the NBN in the face of personal attacks, lobbying from entrenched profiteers, and even ill-informed Telstra shareholders who though Telstra still wanted to maintain ageing copper, when it has now moved on to retail services. The failure to produce any kind of cost-benefit study (they produced the dollar costs but did not evaluate them against the hard-to-quantify but very real cost savings and social benefits) left them open to justifiable criticism, but the rollout has been executed well to date and we now have a very detailed plan. Digital productivity is presumably intended to identify how a ubiquitous and consistent network can benefit Australia, both city and country, and what is required in the way of training and private and government programs to get there. In my view, the NBN stands alone among the undertakings of the Rudd administration as a good example of vision and execution, primarily because Messrs Conroy and Quigley were both capable and clear-headed and were allowed to get on with the job with minimal political interference.
ITnovice Sep 13, 2010 11:11 AM	It seems that in Australia, we reward incompetence with portfolio's. Despite poor track records too. This role needs and industry professional, not a politician.
Ace Sep 13, 2010 12:41 PM	Yes @umbria, but don't you find it odd that the Govt wants to give everyone the keys to a new V8 with one hand, and impose a blanket 60kph speed limit with the other?
Mordd Sep 13, 2010 5:07 PM	Guys, lets get one thing straight here: THE FILTER IS DEAD!! Gone, bye bye, no more, etc.... lets look at the facts here: 1. The Filter legislation was delayed until the working group into Content Classification has investigated a 18+ classification among other things, which will take until at least July next year before reporting back. 2. The Greens hold the balance of Power in the Senate from July next year, and the Greens will NOT under any circumstances allow the Filter legislation to pass. 3. The Greens are now part of the Labor Coalition Government with Adam Brandt in the House of Reps, so they won't even allow the Filter legislation to get up there in the 1st place, not unless Julia wants to find herself with 75 seats all of a sudden, might make it a bit hard to win a no confidence motion then. THE FILTER IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE GREENS!
Maxxi2 Sep 13, 2010 9:24 PM	I think you mean the filter is pronounced dead Mordd... >;)) Even a very ordinary doctor does not readily believe that a patient is dead on somebody's say-so, until the patient stops breathing, the blood stops flowing and/or there is no brain activity... I think what would be more accurate is that the filter could very well be dead after, and if, the Greens and all Libs vote it down when it hits the Senate in 2011. That would mean though that no-one in the coalition nor the Greens does a deal for other far more nationally minor issues such as ETS, NBN, Mining Tax, boat people, etc ad infinitum... Some folks have had the experience that not only is a week a long time in politics, but 20 weeks and more is quite an eternity... Underestimating Conroy is a mistake a few people have made in the past 24 months.
anonymous Sep 14, 2010 12:08 PM	@Mordd, no the filter isn't dead, just resting. And unlike the well-known parrot, the filter will be imposed the minute that Conboy can get the numbers by trading a vote with the Greens, on something like (say) the shut down of uranium mining in exchange for censorship. Conboy was forced to defer the imposition of government censorship until safely after the election, but he and his holy "stakeholders" will never give up.
Mordd Sep 14, 2010 7:44 PM	You will never see the greens trade off a filter for stopping uranium mining or any other big green "incentive". Bob Brown has shown he is far too smart to make deals with the devil like that, thats exactly what the Democrats did by passing the GST and look where they are now. The reason so many ppl vote greens is because they know the greens will deliver good outcomes not do stupid deals purely for the sake of the environment. You say its too early to call the filter dead, well I personally am calling it dead as of right now, remember this in 1 years time when the government finally announces they are putting it to rest.
anonymous Sep 15, 2010 12:29 PM	@Mordd, hope you're right, but as you say time will tell. But while your strong political loyalty may be commendable, the fact remains that the Greens ARE just politicians like all the other pollies. Do you really think a Green headline issue like uranium mining does not outweigh the possibility of letting Conboy & Co impose their filter?
advocate Sep 16, 2010 9:15 AM	umbria wrote: Senator Conroy admirably stuck to his guns over the NBN in the face of personal attacks, lobbying from entrenched profiteers, and even ill-informed Telstra shareholders who though Telstra still wanted to maintain ageing copper, when it has now moved on to retail services. All conjecture with no substance to back it up as per usual, your glib analysis of the reasons why there is opposition to the NBN is wrong and simplistic in the extreme. The failure to produce any kind of cost-benefit study (they produced the dollar costs but did not evaluate them against the hard-to-quantify but very real cost savings and social benefits) left them open to justifiable criticism, but the rollout has been executed well to date and we now have a very detailed plan. You keep repeating this mantra over and over even when it has been dissected previously as being complete rubbish, it as if repetition alone is its own justification for existence. Digital productivity is presumably intended to identify how a ubiquitous and consistent network can benefit Australia, both city and country, and what is required in the way of training and private and government programs to get there. Indeed, but the problem is determining if we need 'nice to have' glam products like fibre to the front door for every house in Australia whether they need it or not while we have a continuing crisis in areas like aged care, mental health and climate change. In my view, the NBN stands alone among the undertakings of the Rudd administration as a good example of vision and execution, primarily because Messrs Conroy and Quigley were both capable and clear-headed and were allowed to get on with the job with minimal political interference. Thank you Labor Party PR department for that political spin, let's visit that one when have more than three small Tasmanian areas of which a small proportion of the total population of those areas have said yes to a NBN connection. Edited by advocate: 16/9/2010 09:21:21 AM
umbria Sep 16, 2010 10:36 AM	@advocate, have you read the Implementation Study? It was not a cost-benefit study, but rather a massive project to determine in practical case-by-case terms (1) who could get fibre with at least 100 Mbps bandwidth availability under a set cost, (2) who must settle for wireless with at least 12 Mbps bandwidth, and (3) who would miss out and only have satellite access, though again with 12 Mbps downlink bandwidth. Every cluster of premises in the country was analysed to establish the cost of supplying it with fibre from its exchange. Where the cost exceeded a certain threshhold, a cluster re-analysed to cost the provisioning of 12 Mbps bandwidth to all affected premises, and if this cost exceeded another threshhold, they would be left off the list. We do have a detailed plan - this is not a mantra, but a fact. And with Telstra coming on board NBNCo has reworked its cost profile and is about to publish a business plan. I call upon Malcolm Turnbull to contribute positively with his business skill, and develop a dollar evaluation of just the direct cost savings to budgets in health, education and transport, and the direct value to regional economies of having ubiquitous broadband. His merchant banker experience with dialup email in 1994 will not be relevant here, but his financial abilities will be, and he will be able to produce numbers without exaggerating any benefits, pre-empting any overblown figures he might expect the ALP to trot out, in a benefit evaluation which I agree is long overdue. And exactly which part of my implicit accusation that every other program of the Rudd-Gillard government was a disaster makes me a Labor Party PR stooge? I wouldn't last long in that job.
umbria Sep 16, 2010 10:45 AM	@advocate, I forgot to mention that the NBN will contribute to the mix of solutions to the very real resourcing crises for aged care, mental and climate change. Half our hospital beds are occupied by people who would really rather be at home with real food and family support, but who need a doctor to check them once or twice daily. For city dwellers close to a hospital this is easier, but patients from the country can't travel in every day and must be accommodated. If even 10% of hospital beds were freed up by video consultation to home this would reduce travel and isolation in a city far from home for many people and their carers. But let's see someone crunch some real numbers on these sort of benefits and cost offsets.
advocate Sep 16, 2010 11:03 AM	umbria wrote: @advocate, have you read the Implementation Study? It was not a cost-benefit study, No indeed it was not, the NBN is a open cheque book, as long as Labor is in power it will be constantly propped up to justify its existence. We do have a detailed plan - this is not a mantra, I and many others beg to differ strongly on that one. And with Telstra coming on board NBNCo has reworked its cost profile and is about to publish a business plan. Funny how 'Telstra coming on board' means it is running its own FTTH for the South Brisbane exchange area, the final agreement has not been signed and the Chairman of the Future Fund which is Telstra's largest shareholder states he has no idea what the agreement is all about as no one has seen it yet. I call upon Malcolm Turnbull to contribute positively with his business skill, and develop a dollar evaluation of just the direct cost savings to budgets in health, education and transport, and the direct value to regional economies of having ubiquitous broadband. No, I have even a better idea, how about Conroy his department and the NBN Co do it to justify FTTH, after all they are the ones building it and bleeding the taxpayer funding. And exactly which part of my implicit accusation that every other program of the Rudd-Gillard government was a disaster makes me a Labor Party PR stooge? I wouldn't last long in that job Yet you put on on the rose coloured glasses when it comes to the NBN spin about how the Tasmanian pilot is on track and under budget, BTW what budget? have you seen it? - oh Conroy said it was, that's good enough for you is it? How about some real meat about those three Tasmanian areas like the percentage of takeup, what the residents are using their new beaut BB for, or is it so far the most expensive taxpayer subsidised email retrieval system in history. I noticed also the NBN Co has extended the sign-up period until October for those Tassie areas, what's up not enough takers? Edited by advocate: 16/9/2010 11:31:12 AM
deteego Sep 16, 2010 11:23 AM	On the note of Tasmanian deployment of NBN being under budget, it actually was overbudget according to specifications. Even though they only spent 90% of the original allocated budget, they only deployed the NBN to 50% of expected homes. If NBN co were going to deploy NBN to every house that they were originally planned it, it would have been seriously over budget