ARN

Greens formally back Government's Telco Bill

Government caves to Greens' demand to put privatisation to a vote before going ahea

The Australian Greens have formally agreed to support the Government's Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2010, according to reports from ABC News.

According to the ABC, the Greens have agreed to pass the contraversial Bill in exchange for Government promises that any privatisation of NBN Co will be put before a parliamentary vote before going ahead.

"It won't be automatically privatised, it will need to be subjected to a full and comprehensive public interest test done partly by the Productivity Commission and partly through a joint parliamentary committee," Australian Greens Senator, Scott Ludlam, told the ABC. "That was the last issue that was a sticking point for us."

The demand from the Greens had been a long-standing one that had never faced serious opposition from the Government. The move is set to boost chances of Telstra being seperated.

The party's support comes despite high drama in the Senate over its demands to see NBN Co's business case released to the public. The Government's refusal almost resulted in Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, being gagged in the Senate by the Opposition.

Nominations for the 2012 ARN IT Industry Awards open on Tuesday, June 12.

More about: ABC, ABC, Bill, Productivity Commission, Telstra
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the ARN comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: Australian Greens, NBN, nbn co, Telecommunications Bill, telstra separation
ARN Directory | Distributors relevant to this article
Express Data , ICT Distribution , Multimedia Technology , VExpress Distribution
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to ARN's news, research and invitation only events.
ARN Distributor Directory
Find distributors by name | vendor | location
Channel Deals
/deals/transition-systems-australia/2010-11-15_345_new-wan-optimisation-available
Transition Systems Australia

NEW. WAN Optimisation Available.

More details »
ARN Vendor Directory
Find vendors by name | category

iAsset is a channel management ecosystem that automates all major aspects of the entire sales,marketing and service process, including data tracking, integrated learning, knowledge management and product lifecycle management.