Please accept my apologies: I was wrong about Malcolm Turnbull - Delimiter
Categories:
Great articles on other sites
- Written by
on Thursday, December 12,
Please accept my apologies: I was wrong about Malcolm Turnbull
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
hey everyone,
hope you’re well and winding down towards Christmas!
Long-term readers of Delimiter will be aware that I have long tried to hold all sides of politics to account on an equal basis when it comes to technology policy and implementation. Whether it’s Labor, the Coalition or the Greens, I have tried sincerely to praise the merits of each, as well as criticising each where criticism is due. I have tried to seek truth and to be objective. This is standard journalistic practice and it was how I was trained.
This has, at times, led me into conflict with many readers. Many in Australia’s technology community have long believed that the Coalition has not sincerely had intentions of pursuing Labor’s National Broadband Project to fruition. When Malcolm Turnbull was first appointed as Shadow Communications Minister three years ago, back in 2010, , and many readers have long believed that has been the secret intention of the Coalition when it comes to this most high-profile of Labor projects.
In that past three years, I have attempted to treat all statements by all sides of politics on their merits. I have treated the Coalition’s statements on the NBN seriously, and I have treated Labor’s statements on the NBN seriously. I have treated the Greens’ statements on the NBN seriously.
Many readers have argued with me about this approach. They have pointed out that Turnbull, and others within the Coalition, have very often taken an inconsistent approach to the NBN, stating one thing and then doing another. There are examples littered throughout
I need not bring them all up individually.
This inconsistent approach — where Turnbull and other senior Coalition figures
but often taken actions which have seemed inimical to that support in practice — has led many readers to develop a complete lack of faith in the Coalition when it comes to the NBN project. Many have reverted to Abbott’s 2010 request that Turnbull “demolish” the NBN, and will believe very little of what the Member for Wentworth says when it comes to the project.
In this context, my approach of trying to listen to all sides has rubbed many the wrong way. Many readers believe I have been trying to achieve “balance for balance’s sake” instead of trying to get to the truth of the matter. I haven’t been doing that: I’ve honestly been trying to get to the truth of the matter. Because of this, I’ve argued long and hard with many of you about this issue.
Well, I am here today to formally apologise. I was wrong to have faith in Malcolm Turnbull and the Coalition on this issue. You were all right, and I was wrong. Turnbull does indeed appear to be attempting to “demolish” the NBN.
I sat in a press conference at NBN Co headquarters this morning and listened for two hours while Turnbull and a series of his NBN appointees . Those areas currently “served” (as laughable as that term is to many who live there) by the HFC cable footprint, it now appears, will get no upgrade at all. Many will doubtless still be on ADSL2+ when the Coalition’s “NBN” is completed.
Turnbull’s cost projection promises, his rollout speed promises, his techno even his promises that the NBN Co Strategic Review would not b virtually all of his promises about the NBN were this morning flagrantly broken, and there were no answers to so many of the questions which the non-subservient elements of the media (those of us that are left) have about the NBN.
We cannot call this a “National Broadband Network” any more. That term is fundamentally redundant, when around 28 percent of Australian premises will not receive the infrastructure, and most of the rest will receive a watered down version highly dependent on Telstra’s copper network, which, , has a plethora of issues. To do so would be farcical, as this morning’s entire press conference was farcical.
I note that this morning’s press conference was dominated by questions from News Ltd and Financial R newspapers which have historically been highly in favour of the Coalition’s NBN policy and broadly against Labor’s. Turnbull is actively attempting to block the technology media from querying his actions. This is why the Minister’s press conferences on this issue today were held in Canberra and not in S because the predominantly Sydney-based technology press tends to ask questions about the NBN which the Coalition would apparently rather not answer.
With all this in mind, I would like to issue a formal apology to Delimiter’s readers. I was wrong. I was wrong to believe Malcolm Turnbull that he had honourable intentions for the NBN. I was wrong to believe that the project would survive in a reasonable form under a Coalition Government. I was wrong to trust that the dream of faster broadband for all Australians could be still be realised in a different model.
Please believe me, once and for all, that I have lost any faith I had in Turnbull in his role as the Communications Minister and as a leader in Australia’s technology landscape. From now on Delimiter’s default position will be that the Minister is not acting in the best interests of Australia from a NBN perspective. I will require significant evidence in each and every article I cover to shake me out of that belief. I will still deal with all political players with respect, politeness and professionalism, as I always have, but it is now clear that there is a fundamental gulf between what the Coalition says it is doing and what it is actually doing. I will now attempt to pinpoint that gap in a much more direct fashion.
At the heart of all of this is a basic underlying question: Is the Coalition sincerely attempting to deliver better broadband services to all Australians. I have long believed that answer to be “yes”. Today I can conclusively say that the answer to that question is “no”. It may seem an irrelevant philosophical point to many. But this makes a very big difference in how I work.
You can’t just delete 28 percent of Australian premises from a “National Broadband Network” and claim that you are going to complete the project “sooner”. You are not “delivering” the NBN, . You are delivering a remnant of the NBN. You are delivering a Lesser Broadband Network, or LBN.
It is possible that I will be proven wrong in this view. It is possible that the Coalition will, within the next decade, successfully deliver super-fast broadband upgrades to all Australians. It is possible that Turnbull is passionately trying to do his best to deliver on that aim. And I will be the first to change my mind and admit that I was wrong when and if I am presented with evidence of that being true.
But for right now, I must hold the Coalition in contempt for breaking all of its promises. Delimiter is, after all, an evidence-based site. And the evidence today is that the Coalition is not sincere about delivering super-fast broadband to all Australians. Please believe I will hold the Government and Turnbull personally to account on this basis from now on. And forgive me for my mistake.
Kind regards,
Renai LeMay
Editor + Publisher, Delimiter
Related posts:
188 Comments
You can follow any responses to this entry through the
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Kudos Renai, you are absolutely right in this article. Today’s effort by Malcolm was disgraceful.
Enterprise IT stories
If you have even a skin deep awareness of the structure of Australia’s superannuation industry, you’ll be aware that much of the underlying infrastructure used by many of the nation’s major funds is provided by a centralised group, Superpartners. One of the group’s main projects in recent years has been to dramatically update and modernise its IT platform — its version of a core banking platform overhaul. Unfortunately, the $250 million project has not precisely been going well.
This week it emerged that Peter Grant, the two-time former Queensland Whole of Government CIO (pictured), has joined well-regarded analyst firm Intelligent Business Research Services (IBRS). We’ve long had a high regard for IBRS, and so it’s fantastic to see such an experienced executive join its ranks.
The era of troublesome desk phones tied to physical locations is gradually coming to an end in many workplaces, with mobile phones becoming increasingly popular as organisations’ main method of voice telecommunications. But some groups are more advanced than others when it comes to adoption of the trend. One of those is Westpac.
Remember how twelve months ago, the Federal Government released a new cloud computing security and privacy directive which required departments and agencies to explicitly acquire the approval of the Attorney-General and the relevant portfolio minister before government data containing private information could be stored in offshore facilities? Remember how the policy was strongly criticised by Microsoft, Government CIOs and Delimiter? Well, it looks like the policy is about to be reversed.
In news from The Department of Disturbing Facts, iTNews revealed late last week that Western Australia’s Department of Education has run out of money halfway through the deployment of new fundamental IT infrastructure to the state’s schools.
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has published an extensive article arguing that the Federal Government needed to do a better job of connecting with Australians via digital channels and that public sector IT projects needn’t cost the huge amounts that some have in the past.
New Zealand’s national Government announced a whole of government contract this morning for what it terms ‘Office Productivity as a Service’ services. This includes email and calendaring services, as well as file-sharing, mobility, instant messaging and collaboration services. The contract complements two existing contracts — Desktop as a Service and Enterprise Content Management as a Service.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has promoted an internal executive who joined the bank in September after a lengthy career at petroleum giant VP and IT services group Accenture to replace its outgoing chief information officer Michael Harte, who announced in early May that he would leave the bank.
Second-tier Australian bank and financial services group Suncorp today announced that its long-serving top technology executive Jeff Smith would leave to take up a senior role with IBM in the United States, in an announcement which marks the end of an era for the nation’s banking IT sector.
Most companies that live and breathe the online revolution are not tech startups, but smart smaller firms that use online tools to run their core business better: to cut costs, reach customers and suppliers, innovate and get more control. Many others, however, are falling behind, according to a new Grattan Institute discussion paper.
More In Enterprise IT
Monday, June 30,
Monday, June 30,
Wednesday, June 25,
Tuesday, June 24,
Monday, June 23,
More In Telecommunications
Thursday, June 26,
Wednesday, June 25,
Tuesday, June 24,
Tuesday, June 17,
Friday, June 13,
More In Industry
Thursday, June 19,
Wednesday, June 18,
Tuesday, June 17,
Tuesday, June 17,
Monday, June 16,
More In Digital Rights
Tuesday, June 24,
Tuesday, June 24,
Tuesday, June 24,
Monday, June 23,
Monday, June 16,Credit Card Processing since 1999
877-527-9606
Professional Payment Services
Merchant Professionals provides personal service in the payments field throughout the US and Canada. There is an old saying that goes, &You don't need help until you need help.& There are a lot of mavericks in this industry who will sign you up with an incredibly low rate, and then disappear. We are here to help when you need it.
Absolute integrity is our standard
We have set up our network to use the industry's highest uptime processor, Elavon (formerly Nova). We offer split second transaction times, funding within 24hrs and great technology. We will educate you about the credit card processing industry so you will understand your account, statements and contract.
Credit Card Processing
Merchant Professionals has the ability to process Retail, Restaurant,
Lodging, Supermarkets,
Business-to-Business, Mobile/Wireless, Internet, Mail and Telephone order merchants. We
have terminals, PC software and Internet products available that address the
needs of each industry.
We have great credit card terminals and dedicated support staff. No Application fee. 99% approval rate. 24hr account setup. Terminal programming is always free.
When the decision came to start accepting credit cards I was very apprehensive in regard to my lack of knowledge of the transaction service industry.
Upon calling
I was not only pleased with the education I received, but the outstanding customer service.
After discovering my needs they recommended a product and provided incredible rates that fit our business perfectly.
With top rate customer service and true honesty in the industry I would recommend them to any business looking to accept credit cards.
Jason Meuter, Pres.
Online Credit Card
Processing
If you accept orders over the internet, we've got you covered. Choose a payment gateway that suits your needs.
Credit Card Terminals
Merchant Professionals has a lot of experience with . We can help you pick the terminal that's right for your business. If you already have a terminal that works, re-programming is free. We have friendly and experienced in-house support staff to keep you up and processing.
Gift Cards
Now your operation can issue plastic gift cards just like the big box stores. And you can enjoy the huge return on investment and operating cash that gift cards give a merchant.
For instance:
12% of the cash that customers load into gift cards is never used.
61% of card recipients spend more than the value of the card.
Gift cards are money in the bank before you have delivered any goods or services
See for yourself: Try our
With a low up-front cost, lots of profit potential and high consumer demand, gift cards will help you compete with the box stores.Thank you for your invitation which I am very pleased to accept_2E
您要查找的是不是：
承蒙邀请，我欣然接受。
谢谢你的邀请，但是很抱歉我有约会。
好的，我会转告约翰先生的，谢谢你的邀请。
谢谢你请我共进晚餐，但是我能不能以后再去？
谢谢你的邀请。我的确喜爱莫扎特的音乐，但是我今天晚上另有要事。
在此，我对受邀参加此次富平论坛会议表示由衷的感谢。在这里的每一天我都过得非常愉快。这里的一切都是那么美妙，人们是如此的友好。
谢谢您邀请我下周拜访您。
感谢您们的邀请，今天能够来到这里是一件非常高兴的事。
谢谢你请我共进晚餐，但是我能不能以后再去？
我很感谢您的信任。我现准备接受贵公司在。地区的业务代表。
李小姐，谢谢你邀请我吃饭。你真是太客气了。
感谢小熊在不开心的时候的陪伴。
我很感谢您的信任。我现准备接受贵公司在...地区的业务代表。
谢谢你对我的祝福,也希望早日听到你的好消息!
谢谢你的盛情邀请。
谢谢你为朋友们的欢乐而欢乐。你温馨的祝愿，我知道那都是肺腑之言。
我得走了。谢谢你的帮助。
我非常感激您的恩惠。
预祝你生日快乐!我实在很想参加,但现在还不能确定,我会尽量参加。谢谢你的邀请。
如果不是以上词条，让海词编辑来提供解释
的海词问答和网友补充：
相关词典网站：