Conroy’s broadband agenda

Sometimes it pays to make an educated guess. Last week I lined up Senator Stephen Conroy to join me as a guest on The Scoop this morning on the assumptions Labor would defeat the Liberals and that he would retain the Communications and ICT portfolio as the Rudd Government transitions into power.

Some of the biggest names in the Australian IT industry also accepted the invitation to join me on the panel for a special “Election Edition” which I recorded on the first working day after the weekend’s so-called “Ruddslide.” My other guests were TechnologyOne CEO Adrian Di Marco, AIIA CEO Sheryle Moon, ACS outgoing President Philip Argy and BRW’s technology editor Foad Fadaghi, one of the country’s most respected telecommunications reporters, and a regular on the show. That’s a lot of voices to give air time inside 30 minutes of recording time!

Naturally enough, we talked about Labor’s plans for broadband and my industry colleagues received a positive response from Senator Conroy on the vexed issue of why state and federal governments have persisted in keeping their communications and technology industry development portfolios separate. There’s a permalink available via Stephen’s pic below. Enjoy!