Displaying items by tag: Tony Windsor

Independent MP Tony Windsor has questioned whether the Coalition’s NBN policy will provide better services for rural Australia. He is unimpressed with Opposition assurances.

The One Laptop per Child Australia project has received a boost from the federal budget, with a one-off grant of $11.7 million for its unproven program.

When it comes to Governments, one never knows how far away tyranny will follow, with Australia's NBN promising to solve the country 'tyranny of distance' problem with a tyranny of debt.

The first mainland NBN site gets switched on, the headlines scream. In the sleepy NSW town of Armidale, heartland of former National Party turned ALP Government flack Tony Windsor. Whether broadband for the bush or a billion for a hospital in Tassie, Australians now know the truth about politics in this land.

Rural independent MP Tony Windsor says he is unlikely to support shadow communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull's bill calling for a cost-benefit analysis of the National Broadband Network.

The Gillard Government's promise to king-making rural independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott to make regional areas the roll-out priority for the National Broadband Network would have no impact on NBN Company finances, a Senate committee has been told.

Coalition calls for a full Productivity Commission cost-benefit analysis of the $43 billion National Broadband Network was simply a delaying tactic from an Opposition "determined to wreck" the project, Prime Minister Julia Gillard says.

The Australian technology sector will get its fibre-to-the-home National Broadband Network after the two remaining undecided rural independent MPs threw their support behind Julia Gillard and the ALP to form the next Federal Government.

Queensland rural MP Bob Katter will back Tony Abbott's Coalition to form the next Government of Australia, announcing his plans ahead of his independent colleagues and fellow kingmakers Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott.

The three rural independent MPs who hold the key to formating the next government are likely to make a decision today on whether to back Tony Abbott's Coalition or Labor's Julia Gillard, with broadband looming as a primary deal maker or breaker.

Rural independent MP Bob Katter has made public his 'wish-list' of issues he wants addressed by Prime Minister Julia Gillard or Opposition leader Tony Abbott before he is prepared to offer his support to either in forming a minority government - and it doesn't include broadband.

I feel blessed to live in a society where even the most disingenuous are allowed to have their say, unmolested by thoughts of the common good.

New South Wales independent MP Tony Windsor says he would be surprised if Opposition leader Tony Abbott doesn't submit his election promises to Treasury for costing, calling it a poor start to discussions he may have with the Coalition over forming a government.

If the Gillard Government wins this marathon election, it will have been broadband that gets it over the line. That is, unless Opposition leader Tony Abbott's refusal to submit his election promises to Treasury for costing hasn't already handed Labor the win.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has offered the three independent rural MPs who hold the key to forming the next federal government a detailed briefing from NBN Company chief executive Mike Quigley in response to their "keen interest" in broadband.

The so-called "Independents' Day" at the National Press Club provided few clues on who will form the next federal government and even fewer about what the nation's future broadband infrastructure might look like.

The three rural independent MPs who hold the key to forming of the next Government of Australia - all of them ex-Nationals - will meet in Canberra late today to discuss areas of cooperation before negotiations start with the Prime Minister and Tony Abbott later this week.

The early roll-out of the national broadband network to the northern Canberra suburb of Gungahlin is a victory for community advocacy, and ACT Senator Kate Lundy can rightly claim a large chunk of the credit.