Minchin's madness

23.10.2009
I'm in a bind. I can't work out whether Senator Nick Minchin is plain mad, or there is method to his madness.

I'm leaning to the former, though, because of the shadow communication minister's actions since the . Put simply, they have been nothing more than reckless political opportunism.

Minchin has not only positioned himself against the with whom he would have to work if his party wins office, he has also failed to articulate a long-term ICT position for the benefit of all of Australia.

Instead he has and placed his trust in the 1.4 million or so of the telco's shareholders. Why? Simply to oppose Conroy and the Rudd administration? To win the votes of a minority group in the public, i.e. Telstra shareholders?

He can't seriously think the ICT industry would give him credit for taking this stand, can he?

Minchin recently told one of my colleagues he , which is at the heart of the Telstra separation issue, and wouldn't provide an alternative to the fibre-to-the-premises (FttP) network. Instead, he consistently claims we don't need an NBN.