Displaying items by tag: Tony Abbott

It’s happened, pretty well as the opinion polls predicted. Kevin Rudd lost but prevented a Labor wipeout, Tony Abbott is Prime Minister, and Malcolm Turnbull will be Communications Minister.

The Coalition has dropped a policy bombshell on the eve of the election, announcing it will implement an opt-out Internet filter if it wins government. Then within hours the leader of the Opposition and the Shadow Broadband Minister hastily retracted the proposed policy.

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

Malcolm Turnbull is claiming victory with his NBN plan after a test run of a hybrid fibre-copper NBN solution showed speeds of up to 100 megabits per second.

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.

Coalition leader Tony Abbott has announced plans to set up an Online Safety Working Group  to develop the Coalition's online safety policy.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott's suggestion that the NBN should be scrapped following Queensland's flood crisis has divided Australian opinion, a new survey shows.

The Gillard Government has started 2011 facing a barrage of criticism from the Opposition over alleged ties between NBN Co CEO Mike Quigley, CFO Jean-Pascal Beaufret and Alcatel, which won an $85 million contract with NBN Co last June.

Telstra has called for the swift passage of telecommunications reforms introduced to Parliament today, legislation that includes provisions for the structural separation of the company.

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.

With the announcement this week of the Gillard Cabinet and Tony Abbott's shadow ministry, we now know who the players are in what will be a hard-fought battle over the National Broadband Network implementation. But we have still to learn how the game will be played.

The Federal Government will push to get its stalled telecommunications reform bill passed this year, and says the Opposition will be held to account for any delays and cost escalations for the National Broadband Network if the legislation is held up.

Rolling the National Broadband Network in from the regions rather than building out from city areas will require much more upfront capital from Government, driving up the cost of the network, freshly-minted Coalition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull says.

Former Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull has returned to the Coalition front bench as shadow communications minister with instructions "to hold the Government ferociously to account" over the National Broadband Network.

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.

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.

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.