MORE LABOR HOT AIR, BUT NO COMMITMENTS
9 June 2004
80/04
Once again, Labor has put its toe in the water of broadcasting policy, only to jump back as soon as anyone shows a sign of taking its musings as anything resembling a commitment.
Today, Opposition communications spokesman Lindsay Tanner has been reported as flagging Labor plans to sell a fourth commercial television licence in order to raise as much money as possible to fill the growing black hole in its election promise costings.
Mr Tanner was previously reported describing this plan to industry representatives at the ASTRA conference in Sydney in April. But, asked to elaborate, Mr Tanner has repeatedly denied that Labor has any sort of policy on a fourth television licence.
What kind of game is Labor playing with the Australian people? Why not admit to having a policy and get on with the job of explaining it?
Mr Tanner's opinion piece in the Australian Financial Review today is a clear example of Labor's half-baked, inconsistent and ill-informed approach to communications and competition policy.
He says: "Labor supports competition because markets work" and "Countries that have persisted with crude interventions designed to protect particular economic activities at the expense of others are now paying a high price for doing so."
But Mr Tanner himself has proudly proclaimed his intent to crudely intervene in the operations of Telstra, interfering in the broader telecommunications market and in the interests of more than 1.8 million shareholders, under a Labor government.
Mr Tanner accuses conservatives of being "too shackled to special interests" but uttered not one peep when Senator Kate Lundy responded to union concerns by calling for the introduction of a protectionist ban on offshoring.
He says: "With genuine competition, Australia can be a major player in the global information economy and reinvigorate our export performance and profile."
But this clearly conflicts with both the offshoring ban and Labor's plan to scrap Invest Australia, despite its successful record of promoting Australian industry overseas and attracting foreign investment to Australia.
Mr Tanner says "lack of competition has led to an abysmal performance in broadband". But market forces have seen a dramatic fall in the price of broadband services and related increase in consumer demand for these services.
Another of Mr Tanner's ridiculous claims is that "only a tiny minority of households can receive digital signals". In fact, according to industry figures, an estimated 80 per cent of the Australian population has access to digital services from all five free-to-air broadcasters, with 91 per cent having access to at least one digital service by the end of this month.
Labor clearly needs to get its act together and sort out its policy shambles. Getting the facts right would be a good start.
