Towards a broadband policy

Under the Australian Constitution, matters relating to communications are a national responsibility. However, until recently, there had been a broad consensus across the political parties about most communications policies, with the major exception of the privatisation of the former incumbent, Telstra. This consensus no longer holds. One of the issues raised by all sides in the recent election period was 'broadband', and there is no doubt that, now the election results are clear, Australia may actually be on the way to developing a broadband policy. This article reviews the background to the recent policy debate, and provides some comment on the issues that have been raised in the Election Campaign.