One of the most important moments of the election campaign for the Gizmodo audience happened today, when Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, Shadow Minister Tony Smith and Scott Ludlum from the Greens debate ICT policy. The question now is who won.
Whether you watched the debate live or followed our liveblog, it was pretty easy to get a good idea of who had the strongest arguments during the hour-long debate. Each member argued their party’s policies on broadband, filtering and renewable technology, and while I have a very firm idea in my mind who won, I want to know what you guys think.
moggyx
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 3:46 PMIt’s funny that anyone actually voted for Tony Smith given that he didn’t answer most questions thrown at him and had a content free policy to talk up…. I guess that shows just how much everyone hates Conroy.
Well done to Ludlam though….. good show
Sylphier
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 3:48 PMI believe based on the materials presented in the debate only, Conroy actually had a very strong argument. The advantages of the NB was well presented, as well as the “theoretical benefits” of the ISP filter.
The other two members of the panel did not attack the disadvantages of these two policy very well. Smith only briefly mentioned the feasibility and viability study of the NBN planning, while Smith and Ludlam didn’t get a strong case on the wastefulness of the ISP filter.
Smith’s policy on NBN alternative is completely lost. I believe the disadvantage of Ludlam is that the Greens cannot implement their own policy; they can only support/not support the government’s policies.
Nevertheless, my votes go to Greens this time. Knowing that they support the NBN and will work to block the ISP filter.
Brax
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 4:11 PMNBN certainly gets the nod, however I disagree on the ISP filter. Ludlam’s comment about its effectiveness is key to the argument, its a lot of resources and effort into something that simply does not achieve the objective.
Tee C
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 3:59 PMScott Ludlam appears to be the only Senator with any knowledge on ICT. He seemed to be very natural with very little of what he discussed coming accross as rehearsed or canned answers (unlike the technological luddite that is Tony Smith).
It’s a shame to see Conroy and Labor pursuing the filter, otherwise the NBN makes a lot of sense and I’m glad they have the support of the greens. The lack of any actual policy and vision from Liberal just shows how little they understand the communications sector. Ludlam’s comments on the Liberal policy was spot on; it would be a patchwork of poorly integrated (or not at all) technologies piecemealed together. This is not a solution, but a ‘lets apply band aids as problems arise’ method.
None of the parties had any real vision of what we could do with the NBN technology though and that’s a real shame to see. However I understand the real visionaries are out here in the private sector and will make the most of any bandwidth provided.
Move over major parties, Greens are going to knock you out.
Greg
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 4:27 PMThe debate will be replayed on ABC News 24 tonight at 10pm if you missed it.
Luke
Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 6:06 PMIts funny people didnt vote for conroy because of the filter, people didnt vote for Smith because his Broadband policy is useless.
Luke
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 12:12 AMIts amazing how many people who have commented on other site dont know what they are talking about and only look at the price tag and not the overall scheme of things.
dwayne
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 3:04 AMI’d rather have the filter than have no national broadband network. Bet you ten bucks the Libs will cancel it if they get in. Bunch of Luddites.
Daryl
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 5:37 AMI tend to see it like this:
in terms of policy; Labor wins, because both they and the Greens are pushing for it. But it wasn’t really a three-way debate. Ludlum basically only chirped in when asked; as opposed to the others who were bickering like school children.
So it’s hard to say really who won; but I found myself agreeing with the things Ludlam said; which I guess means he won the battle and Labor wins the war
Jed
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 11:00 AMScott Ludlum won, he’s the only one who knows what they are talking about and ends statements with “FTW”
Mike Wilson
Wednesday, August 11, 2010 at 1:41 PMIf I did a blind test and was a voter the only logical decision would be to vote for Ludlam. Stated his position very well on both the NB and Filter, which the votes on this site show most others agree on.
Smith et. al. are still stuck in the late 80′s when it comes to the Communications era and Conroy is still calling most of the voters Pedophiles because they don’t want a filter that will not work and will be a big waste of tax money.