gatewatching

Tonight’s 7.30 Report story about the disproportionate impact of high fuel prices in the Torres Strait was excellent. While a lot of the coverage of rising energy prices has concentrated on impacts on metropolitan commuters, and the he-said she-said antics of Governments and Oppositions on who’s to blame, this showed us how much is at stake in parts of Australia where the economy is configured quite differently to cities or mining boom-towns.

In short, petrol is approaching $3 a litre on some islands. In the Strait, the main means of transport is the tinnie” - small aluminium motor boats. When petrol prices hit these levels, it affects the prospects of one of the main sources of employment in the region outside government services, the fishing industry. It also affects people’s ability to access markets for their goods, basic services, and the price of fresh fruit and vegetables. The 7.30 Report yarn made it clear that the viability of these communities is important for the rest of us too - along with preserving an amazing, unique cultural heritage, strong communities in our northernmost islands help with border security, customs and quarantine control.

But we shouldn’t have to rely on the MSM to convey all this to us in the occasional feature. It would be great if there were more people on the ground providing hyperlocal coverage of the issues affecting the Islands. This isn’t just a matter of infrastructure, but of literacy, and of actively promoting and evangelising the use of blogs and other open publishing platforms.

The State, obviously, is better-placed than anyone to do this in remote communities. That’s why I’m hoping that, along with the current emphasis on security, the Government will start to avidly spruik the potential of open publishing technologies for remote communities, so we can all get a better idea of the challenges facing our sprawling, multi-speed national economy

7.30 Report, Queensland, abc, blogging, broadband, regional bloggers, remote communities

The Australian Communications and Media Authority have released their Communications Report for 2006-2007.

ACMA are responsible for regulating broadcasting and communications in Australia. Part of their responsibility is recording and publishing information on the scope of Australia’s communications industires, and the success of broadcasters, telcos and other in meeting their regulatory obligations. This report does all of that, as well as devoting a whole chapter to the state of communications in remote indigenous communities, and another to explaining the importance of improved communications to the Australian economy.

Given that improved communications infrastructure not only has knock-on effects in the broader economy, but is so important to citizen journalism and other forms of online civic participation, it’s disappointing that Australia’s broadband roll-out to date has been so poor. It’s summed up well in this chart.

That’s right: as at the reporting period, a full one third of Australian Internet users are still on connections speeds of 256 kilobytes/second or less. Whether you put this down to market failure, a failure of regulation, or a combination of the two (say, a poorly-conceived, short-sighted privatisation of a dominant telco), it’s a national disgrace.

It puts us well behind any comparable nation in broadband connectivity, and it means that over two million Australian households are significantly disadvantaged - economically, culturally and politically. And that’s not counting all those people who have no connection at all. The worst effects of this broadband drought, naturally, are felt in rural and regional areas.

The Rudd government has promised to address this, but the detail of tomorrow’s budget will tell us whether they’ve invested enough to do anything meaningful about it.

Given that they have, they then just need to get past Telstra.

ACMA, Telstra, broadband, citizen journalism, economics, government, infrastructure, regional bloggers, regulation, telcos ACMA, broadband, regulation, Telstra