Displaying items by tag: Rob Oakeshott

The government’s proposed media laws have a feeding frenzy among the commentariat, who love talking about themselves. But it is all looking academic.

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.

The chairman of the joint parliamentary oversight committee on the NBN Rob Oakeshott says workforce-related issues arising from the $11 billion Telstra-NBN Company deal might add to the cost of the national broadband network roll-out.

The powerful joint parliamentary committee overseeing the roll-out of the national broadband network will scutinise the $11billion deal between Telstra and the NBN Company, looking at questions of risk and value for money.

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.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has denied the Government plan to introduce internet filtering legislation was a waste of time or money, despite not having the numbers in the Senate to get it passed.

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.

Tony Abbott has consigned the party of regional Australia - The Nationals - to the sidelines for the Coalition's negotiations with three rural independent MPs on forming Government, effectively cutting them out of any discussion on broadband in the bush.

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.