Comments on: Covering the Federal Budget for Crikey

By: Snarky Platypus

Snarky Platypus — Tue, 13 May 2008 09:27:35 +0000

I want to know what provisions have been made for Julie Bishop’s hair spray budget? It must have been an awful drain on the government’s accounts. JULIE, SACRIFICE YOUR HAIR FOR AUSTRALIA’S INFLATION.

By: Simon Rumble

Simon Rumble — Tue, 13 May 2008 07:03:53 +0000

Government-funding for the music biz? Yougottabekiddingme? Well, I suppose we prop up car multinationals and giant mining corps, so they’ve got form.

Structural separation of Telstra is a must. They’ve done it in the UK and now, surprise surprise, broadband is widespread and fairly reasonably priced. BT, their Telstra, actually goes out of its way to provide a good service to its wholesale customers.

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Tue, 13 May 2008 03:54:31 +0000

Tom Worthington has sent me links to his reports on most federal budgets since 1996. Interesting reading! 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2002 2004 2005 2006 2007 @Neerav and @bernard: Ta for the additions. Crikey's media correspondent will probably cover any ABC/SBS issues, and of course anything to do with Telstra is major news and will be covered by their political and business writers. Plenty of things to search for though!

By: bernard

bernard — Tue, 13 May 2008 02:39:59 +0000

Telstra would be a surprise, unless they really want to scare the business community; not a good headline

Look out for future fund financing of environmental infrastructure

Bionic eye — keep flogging that dead horse!

Broadband for remote indig communities — and plonk in some arts funding as well

massive bloody log filters on everything so that every byte you up or down load gets appended to your asio file; outsourced to google and ignoring robots.txt

a total review of defence tech — again arts funding for the performance that Nelson will have to give when called to face Senate Estimates

throw in some nanotech?

depoliticisation of the ARC and the NHMRC perhaps? Give the AHMRC some better funding?

An “information ombudsman”??

sigh; and then he wakes up. Same-same, but different.

By: Neerav

Neerav — Tue, 13 May 2008 00:54:29 +0000

1. ABC and SBS funding — probably no extra funding but may be some surprises? (we can only hope)

2. Digital TV switchover campaign funding

3. Any major changes in funding for http://www.dbcde.gov.au/ (The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy)