WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange has landed back in Australia after being freed from jail in the UK, following a court appearance in the US territory of Saipan in the Pacific.

ANALYSIS The Australian Federal Police appears to have provided the best possible argument for not passing federal bills that seek to enhance its powers, following the provision of details about using existing Australian encryption laws to read the encrypted messages of criminal gangs and take them down.

Given that he was the person most responsible for the current parlous state of the national broadband network, it is surprising that former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has devoted just nine pages to the network in A Bigger Picture, his recent 660-page memoir.

Barring a major catastrophe, the Coalition Government will be able to announce within a fortnight or so that it has completed the rollout of the national broadband network and met its target. One can only hope that, at the same time, there will be an announcement about how the network will be upgraded.

When John Howard came to power in 1996, there was no money in the government kitty to fund the strategy which he planned to follow: inducing people to vote for him thereafter by greasing their hip pockets. So he sold off the first tranche of Telstra. And there ended Australia's dreams of having a decent broadband network.

Former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd claims the Coalition Government changed its NBN policy to ensure "a sub-standard network" due to its "cosy relationship" with the Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corporation.

COMMENT With the arrival of Netflix in Australia, there have been suggestions that people no longer have a valid reason to indulge in unauthorised downloading of movies. Such reasoning is short on logic.

Schools and parents wanting some guidance on the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) issue can turn to Acer’s new BYOD website and white paper for advice, which is the result of 8 months of intensive research.

Kate Lundy, ALP Senator for the ACT and well respected for her connections to the IT industry, will retire at the next election at the age of 47.

Some might think this election's been a bore but social media users disagree, lighting up Facebook and Twitter with Rudd and Abbott banter.

Health, the economy and education are Australia's most talked about election issues, while relatively few people care about the NBN, if Google searches are anything to go by.

Tech giant Google has entered into Australia's political debate, launching an election YouTube channel ahead of the 7 September polling date.

Australia's ICT research is receiving a major shot in the arm ahead of the election, with the government today announcing an additional $42 million in funding.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott have accepted a debate to be hosted by Yahoo!7, Seven News and Facebook, as the companies announced a new partnership today.

Wednesday's Labor leadership shakeup claimed a Prime Minister but it also claimed the head of the biggest infrastructure project in the nation's history, Senator Stephen Conroy.

In a monumental election year about face, NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley has called for a public debate on the best way to build the National Broadband Network. What's more, Mr Quigley, so certain since day 1 that the Government's ubiquitous FTTH NBN is the way to go, has now called upon peak industry body the Communications Alliance to join the debate.

To the many readers who printed out my last column just so they could set it on fire, I confess: In relation to the National Broadband Network, yes, I drank the Kool-Aid.

The Nationals have done their rural and regional constituent base a huge disservice by supporting a Coalition policy that would dismantle the Government's National Broadband Network. And its Queensland senator Barnaby Joyce knows this better than anyone.

All the momentum in this so far tedious federal election campaign has been Tony Abbott's, delivering opinion polls suggesting for the first time that he is a real chance of becoming Australia's next Prime Minister - and that the Coalition can make good its promise to scrap the national broadband network.

Stephen Conroy has retained the Communications portfolio in newly-installed Prime Minister Julia Gillard's first Cabinet.