yARN: Why the Coalition’s filter move is a win for Conroy
- 06 August, 2010 17:10
- Comments 37
When Shadow Treasurer, Joe Hockey, told Triple J and ARN that his party would fight the filter, it signalled the death knell for the highly controversial issue. But rather than put a feather in the cap of the Coalition, it’s set to give the Labor party a solid boost come election day.
The Australian Greens are likely to hold the balance of power in a post-election parliament. Its communications spokesperson, Senator Scott Ludlam, had stated it would move against a filter in any vote. Last month the National Party signalled a move in the same direction.
This meant a Gillard Government would need the Coalition’s support to bring in a mandatory filter, which was long considered a strong possibility by all parties until this week.
According to election experts, the filter never registered as a major issue amongst the average Australian. However, tech-savvy users have long rallied against the measure in websites and blog posts across the Net.
But the same people who despise the filter also tend to love the 100Mbps potential of Labor’s National Broadband Network. IT businesses, gaming enthusiasts and many Net-dwelling Australians are happy with the progress of NBN Co and look forward to seeing their houses linked into one of the world’s fastest networks.
This was boosted by the Government’s release of detailed maps, which show citizens how their towns and suburbs will be plugged into the NBN.
In contrast, the Coalition has refused to release its plans and promised a much smaller and more efficient network. Private companies are set to take the rollout role under a Liberal-led Government in an effort to greatly slash the cost to taxpayers and bring the budget back to surplus faster.
High-level economic arguments aside, one certain result would be higher connection and data costs to make the work viable for private companies.
But why does all this signal good tidings for Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy? The answer is that his filter measure is now a lame duck and moot point.
National Party deputy leader, Barnaby Joyce, is a long time mandatory filter supporter but even he accepted defeat.
“I’d say it’s probably the case [that the measure will never get off the ground]. The reality is the numbers are not there and the Greens will most likely hold the balance of power,” he told ARN.
While many conflicted voters preferred the Government’s NBN model and despised its idea of a mandatory ISP filter, they can now vote for Gillard with the knowledge that the filter won’t see the light of day. Broadband has now become the election’s single biggest issue.
This means any protest voters who shifted their allegiance from Labor to the Greens, Liberal party or any others based on the filter measure can now return their votes to Conroy – thanks entirely to the Coalition and Joe Hockey. That's not to say the number of swinging voters on this issue is large, but in an election this tight every vote will count.
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- yARN: The future is Green for tech
- National Party votes ‘no’ to ISP filtering
- Hockey: The Coalition will not vote for a mandatory ISP filter
- yARN: Who cares about the mandatory ISP filter? "Nobody"!
- EFA fundraising to fight Internet filtering and support R18+ games
- AIIA: The IT industry will vote for Labor, Stephen Conroy and the NBN
- Election 2010: what ISPs want
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- NBN adds 300,000 premises to fibre footprint, releases details of full coverage
- The Coalition defends its lack of NBN alternative, claims policy delay is standard
- ISPs: Opposition axing the NBN is “laughable”
- Q&A: National Party Senator, Barnaby Joyce, on ISP filtering, Telstra and the NBN
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Comments
Peter
I still won't be voting labor. They have betrayed me enough!
V
Still not voting labor. Conroy has insulted the tech community time and time again. We need someone new in the portfolio who hopefully has a clue if we're going to progress any time soon.
Ryan
@V - And you think Tony Smith has a clue? We've hardly heard boo out of him the whole time he has had the portfolio.
adrian
@Ryan
I agree that Tony Smith doesnt have a clue, however i will still be voting liberal due to the sheer amount of f--kups and backflips from labor.
Anon
There's more than 2 parties, people.
V
@Ryan
Not that I'm voting liberal, but I'd still rather Tony Smith than Conroy. Unfortunately who you'd vote for in this election has basically become who is the better of two evils, both for PM and for minister for BCDE. I'd happily vote Labor if Conroy would not continue as minister, but I don't see that happening.
Unfortunately, ministers and politicians in general are not experts in the fields they run. For the main part none of them really have a clue about their portfolio. All you can really do in your vote is give it to who you think will at least take the advice of industry experts and the people the issue concerns most, even if its just to win their votes. Smith has at least done that and I think most people would agree anyone at the moment would be better than Conroy.
Woomera
There is another side to this, it lets Conroy off the hook to "save face" now he can use it against the Coalition, I doubt the event will sway younger tech savey voters back to Conroy though.
mark
I'm a 30 yr plus labor voter. I won't be voting labor while the filter remains ALP policy. The filter remains ALP policy. I would also find it hard to vote for the ALP while it retains the services of Conroy in any way shape or form.
Akira Doe
I can't see myself voting ALP for a long long time because of this policy, those similar and the contempt shown towards the opponents be it big businesses or even regular Australians.
Even if they dropped Conroy (and not because he didn't get re-elected, but they dropped him) it still wouldn't be enough because of their support of him and his actions.
That and the monumental waste in pretty much everything they do.
Richard
I moved from Labor to Greens because of the filter, but wanted Labor to make government before Liberal. Now I'm comfortable that the filter won't come through and I'm very happy. I'd still say this was a clever move by the coalition though, because more right wing swinging voters will leave their vote parked with Liberal now.
Jay
The damage has already been done. I would not vote for any government that proposed such a draconian filter or proposed to collect details of all internet activity for 10 years or more.
It does not matter that the proposal might be defeated or difficult to implement. The mere fact that a government makes the proposal is all that matters.
But in any case, who would want the country to be governed by the invisible thugs that currently run the Labor party? They have demonstrated time and time again that they don't listen to the experts (insulation, filter, NBN, asylum, school building). The thugs have tried to change the window dressing but will the people be fooled?
JD
While pulling off several much needed reforms, Labor have proven to be arrogant almost to the point of dictatorial in other areas including this filter. I'll be voting for a minor party in the Senate as they need someone to keep them honest, as it were.
mutatedwombat
Still putting Liberals ahead of Labor. The fact that Labor still has mandatory Internet censorship as a policy, regardless of whether or not they get to implement it, means I cannot vote for them.
Stuart
I won't reward treasonous behaviour with a vote of support (no matter how empty that vote is). I won't vote for the ALP.
More importantly, this whole issue has taught me that the real power isn't in voting, it's in activism. Organisations like the EFA, GetUp!, and even (heaven forbid) the ACL have all had great influence on events - I'll keep giving money to the EFA and GetUp! because of this. I won't get the same results by merely voting.
matt
.."they can now vote for Gillard"
This a campaign slogan for the IT Industry now? C'mon fellas.
Bruce
The problem with the NBN is the old adage, dont pay for technology you are not ready to use as it will be cheaper in the future. Most of us dont have a legitimate use for 100Mbps to the home at the moment (especially if the ACTA treaty is ratified) and many of the internet problems faced by people on RIMs or beyond could be more economically fixed by targeted assistance - bit like opel.
A better outcome may also be achieved by changing the telecommunications act to allow councils to run there own L2 networks in to their communities and push all the paranoia legislation (wire taps etc) back into the core of the network. No big bang, no big $ amount, similar outcome.
While the NBN may be some techies wet dream, 42B labor dollars (approx 100B real dollars after stuff ups, committees and payouts to mates) is a lot of money to spend so some pimply teens can get better pings to their latest fantasy environment or CH7 can do IP multicasting, especially when faced with our aging infrastructure in economic categories that actually matter.
Adam
Yeah, Labor has lost my vote because it has persisted for so long with the filter. I think the Greens will get my vote this time for doing what the Liberal party should have been doing all along.
Will
It's not as if Labor and Conroy have acknowledged their Censorship Filter is pointless or admitted they know F.A. about the I.T. sector. Its only the sensible positions by other parties that have defeated it against Labor's arrogance.
Leaving these clowns in charge of building an NBN can only lead to another monumental stuff up and bankruptcy.
Duke
See this is where the tech press are as blinkered as the wider press. They think only the tech heads care about the filter and the nbn supporters will shelve principle for speed. I'm 60 +and have voted Labor all my life. i am tech savvy, even passionate, but ALL my contemporaries are aware and disgusted by the filter. And we ALL were or are involved in senior business or government careers. We put more importance on truth, trust and sense thanexpedience. Labor has lost this in a lot of ways but primarily in parading Conroy and his antics in a blatant grab for a fundamental clown's support that they invented the need for in a sleazy, stupid deal. We shall vote under the line in both houses and Fiona Patton makes more sense to us than any of the plastic blow up dolls in the government seats.
Hachey
hahahah - bit of a backfire David (Author)
Dont push you political view on us!
I personally will never vote for a government that supports the idiotic ways of Conroy.
Phil
Well i hope all you angry liberal supporters are happy under Abbott. Personally i would rather the NBN than Abbott. Australia will be a broadband backwater without it. Before you all get high and mighty about how Labor has betrayed you, why don't you stop and think about the bigger issues now?
I'll be voting Labor now as the NBN is more important than teaching Labor a lesson. If you want to teach Labor a lesson, vote green. Voting liberal just to spite labor is silly and short minded. You'll end up with a government you don't agree with on 90% of issues and it will be your own fault.
TheRiddick
Now that the filter is dead, a protest vote against Labor is a vote against the NBN.
Conroy can be easily rolled after the election for his betrayal with enough public and media pressure, but remember what we miss out on if we let Abbott in.... the NBN will be immediately scrapped. So the few people already connected will be the last.
People, choose your weapons.
Derp
You know, you can still vote Labor and not vote for Conroy. Senate voting is good that way, provided you're not so intellectually lazy that you refuse to vote below the line.
Personally I won't be giving either of the major parties my 1 vote, but Labor is still preferable in terms of government to an Abbott led coalition.
Hachey
The Riddick
You do realise that the NBN is the biggest waste of money ever conceived.
Libs plan will be better, wait and see.
Hachey
MoMo
But what else could Hockey do? If the Liberals supported the filter they would still gain nothing.
Thanks to our system now almost becoming a 3 party system instead of just 2 major parties things have changed.
But plenty of people will vote against Labor to punish Conroy for his stupidity even if it makes no difference to the outcome of the filter.
Zappa
Rubbish. Conroy has finally been DEFEATED on his stupid filter, which means he has LOST not just the debate but his credibility. Why should we trust him on anything else now? The NBN is already becoming old hat - Australians living in the main cities can already get 100Mbps at decent prices and now Optus is testing its new cable network which can go even faster. Conroy promises no better than 12Mbps shared satellite to rural areas. By the time the NBN is deployed, other countries will be enjoying 1Gbps+ connections to their homes and Australia's internet connections to the outside world will be complete bottlenecks.
We don't need to vote Labor to get decent internet in this country. Industry will move forward regardless.
The NBN is a farce like everything else from Labor. What have they given us in all the time they've been in?
VoteConroyDown
Derp,
You're completely right, and there's a really easy way to do this (I know, because I just put my postal vote in today!).
This only really applies to Victoria however (where Conroy sits for his senate seat).
Go to Below The Line (https://www.belowtheline.org.au/), select your state, select the party you want to vote for and it will give you their 'above the line' preferences for senators (ie: if you simply put '1' in the party box). Then you can edit it (ie: drag Conroy down the the very bottom) and print your own custom how to vote card for the senate.
Of course I still refuse to vote Labour for their betrayal of voters trust (filter), their filppy-floppy policys and knifing of the PM that we voted for in '07 (yes I know we 'really' elect a party!); but at least this way you can bury Conroy that little deeper.
Cheers
-VCD
Ray of Bris
Bruce, you may quote the "old adage" (how old exactly?) "don't pay for technology you are not ready to use", but therein lies the chicken and egg problem, with the chicken, the existing infrastructure, progressively aging and costing more to maintain as time goes on.
The general public weren't ready to fly, but the Wright brothers opened up the possibility. The general public weren't ready for smartphones but Apple made a huge hit. You'd be kidding yourself if you thought the existing rotting skeleton we call the copper network is forward thinking. Whilst the filter was always an ineffectual use of technology, there is no arguing that at the end of the day, this investment in infrastructure is going to be instrumental in propelling the country forward.
For NBN, I cannot possibly vote Liberal, whose policies do not last more than three months into the future.
Ray of Bris
@Zappa, far from being "old hat", the NBN is real key to the future infrastructure of this company. Cable? You have to be kidding - it is subject to availability, rollout, choice of providers, and the fact that more people on it slows it down SIGNIFICANTLY. Wireless? That knob of a politician Hockey goes on about his iPad coverage while driving down the F3, but the same problems with CONGESTION and bandwidth limitation is still present! Fibre rollout currently is set at 100Mbps BY CHOICE, not because of technological limitation, unlike every other medium that currently exists. This artificial level can be raised as need be.
Do you think any commercial medium will provide fair-access to such a fibre-to-the-node infrastructure, even if they could possibly build it? It was a mistake in the first place to sell off this national asset, and it is about time something like this came back to the people.
The only farce is the amount of wool the uninformed pull over your eyes to make you believe we should wallow in the currently deteriorating "national network" we have. I don't care what party I vote for, I care about what happens to this country beyond the next three years.
Emmisfor
Hachey, did you realise, based on the facts during the Lib Party reign, that their continuous capitulation to Telstra doomed Australia to become a broadband and comms backwater for over a decade. No one else mate, just the Libs.
They whimpered that nothing could be done about it, yet the despised Conroy crushed the Telstra nuts in his first few months, and has them well and truly in line now, as any good fed govt should do.
How the bringing of Australia comms infrastructure up to international standards is a waste of money, precipitating the end of life and replacement of an archaic copper last mile, will remain a mystery to the few who yearn to remain behind the rest of the world for another decade I guess...
Just like the good people who once claimed that we would NEVER need speeds faster than 14.4kbps, so why waste good money updrading the ISP networks and backbone infrastructure???
NoFilter
Personally, I can live without an NBN, but CANNOT live with an ISP level filter. We can always still push a for an NBN, but once the filter is in, we WILL be stuck with it....just like the GST!...
"Save the Net"!!....
tim
I have a question.
How many people will be able to be on the wireless system before it degrades. If the copper lines are phased out/ turned off and rural areas only have a "opel" type system what happens if something happens to that tower? the entire system collapses and all connected to it are affected. ie lightning strike due to location of wireless transmittors. Limited Bandwidth due to amount of people of network.
Come on liberal people wake and realise that only fibre can fix the bad telecommunitcations in australia. It is also a great investment as of its significant upgradability compared to copper.
you had 10+ years to fix your so called "Comptetition". Competition has failed.
FIBRE unless something happens to the exchange or something else it is far less likely chance of things going wrong.
Conroy is a idiot who needs to be replaced by a industry expert not a political moron. If its industry specific get a project manager for that industry in. Its really not that hard.... but then again look at our options. Labour vs Liberal thats your choice as all the other parties swing there votes to either of those two. Greens usually = labour, national = liberal. i would vote national if it wasnt for there stupid alliance.
Hachey
hahahahahahah emisfor.
There was champaign in the Telstra board room last month! Conroy crushed their nuts but giving them a massive payout for the copper network while they move into wireless like the rest of the world.
Classic
NBN is the solution
The Liberal party just lost my vote, horrible alternative.....
sarah
@tim quote "ie lightning strike due to location of wireless transmittors. Limited Bandwidth due to amount of people of network." there is more than one tower. if one tower goes down the internet is still up and stays up. there isn't even a disconnection. so if it gets hit by lightning, there is no loss of internet. it is very unlikely that the lightning is going to hit multiple towers at once.
michael
All this fuss over internet speeds. There are more important things to focus on than 100mbps internet speeds. I hate the way the Govt tells us what is good for us, wven when many wont get any benefit from higher speeds. Sure it will be great for watching porn and for downloading movies etc, but its no big deal for the average person in the street that just wants to surf the net, do some internet banking etc etc. Think of all the PC's that are going to have to be upgraded !!!!!!. I'msure Harvey Norman will be looking forward to that. I'm hoping that new wireless technology will advance at a greater rate and provide a more flexible solution. The massive risk is that the Govt stuffs it up and blows even more money that they've borrowed anyway.
jojo
Michael, you sound like a young Bill Gates "640K ought to be enough for anybody." Gotta have progress.
Blow the coin on the network, we aren't starting a war soon.
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