Julia Gillard

Prime Minister

Breakfast

Prime Minister

TEN years ago broadband was a topic for geeks and academics. Now it will play a key role in deciding the federal election.

Julia Gillard knows this, and that is why broadband is front and centre in the Labor Party's pitch to voters for 2013.

Much of that pitch is bound up in the deployment of the NBN, a project that will prove to be a burden should it significantly miss its deployment schedule.

Recent activity has shown the Prime Minister is looking beyond network infrastructure to paint a broader picture of a digitally enabled Australia.

Her strategy kicked off with the Digital Economy Forum held last October and her subsequent announcement during National Telework Week that the Australian Public Service would be charged with achieving a goal of 12 per cent of APS employees regularly teleworking by 2020.

She then followed up in January with the creation of a new Australian Cyber Security Centre, while this year will also see the release of a Digital Economy policy.

But any ambition she has to raise the debate about broadband to its uses rather than its deployment is of course dependent on her remaining leader of the party and beyond that, remaining in government after September's federal election.

Gillard has angered many in the media sector with her government's controversial media reform package.
TEN years ago broadband was a topic for geeks and academics. Now it will play a key role in deciding the federal election.

Julia Gillard knows this, and that is why broadband is front and centre in the Labor Party's pitch to voters for 2013.

Much of that pitch is bound up in the deployment of the NBN, a project that will prove to be a burden should it significantly miss its deployment schedule.

Recent activity has shown the Prime Minister is looking beyond network infrastructure to paint a broader picture of a digitally enabled Australia.

Her strategy kicked off with the Digital Economy Forum held last October and her subsequent announcement during National Telework Week that the Australian Public Service would be charged with achieving a goal of 12 per cent of APS employees regularly teleworking by 2020.

She then followed up in January with the creation of a new Australian Cyber Security Centre, while this year will also see the release of a Digital Economy policy.

But any ambition she has to raise the debate about broadband to its uses rather than its deployment is of course dependent on her remaining leader of the party and beyond that, remaining in government after September's federal election.

Gillard has angered many in the media sector with her government's controversial media reform package.