Net Traveller: Australian Parliament

Showing posts with label Australian Parliament. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Neighborhood Watch Needed for the Region

I had the pleasure of meting the late Senator, and former Major General, Jim Molan several times on defence discussion panels in Canberra (I get called in as the defence tech expert). While I did not agree with the Senator's politics, I respected his military experience, and patriotism. Part of his legacy is the book "Danger On Our Doorstep" (HarperCollins, 2022), warning of the potential for war between Australia and China.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Government and the Internet

Greetings from Parliament House in Canberra, where the Parliamentary Friends of the Internet Group is holding its first meeting. There are MPs and representatives of Internet related organizations (such as Internet Australia), as well as some individuals (such as myself). It is twenty years ago that professional and industry representatives appeared before a series of parliamentary inquiries to explain what the Internet was. It is good to see that members of the tech community are still undertaking this important task.

One topic discussed was innovation, both in terms of business, but also not-for-profits. Wyatt Roy MP, Assistant Minister, Innovation just came into the meeting. He visited the CBR Innovation Network (CBRIN) on in September. This is a few kilometers from Parliament House and provides a good example of the fostering of the start-up culture.

I was a surprised that the NBN only got one brief mention and there was no mention of education.

Senator Chris Ketter will be hosting the next Parliamentary Friends of the Internet meeting.

Monday, September 14, 2015

John Birmingham's Chicken Theory of Copyright

Greetings from the Senate Alcove of Australian Parliament House in Canberra, where John Birmingham is speaking on copyright, using on an analogy to fast food chicken recipes. This is at an event organized by the Copyright Agency, for the launch of the book Copyfight, edited by Phillipa McGuinness. The last chapter is "This is How the Future Works" by John Birmingham. At the same time we are in the alcove a great political drama is unfolding a few dozen meters away, with a challenge to Prime Minister Tony Abbott by Malcolm Turnbull, former Minister for Communications. I notice that Mr. Turnbull gets two mentions in the book "Copyfight" and Mr. Abbot gets none.

Friday, May 02, 2014

Australian Parliamentary Email System Hacked?

Yesterday I was interviewed by ABC Radio about alledged hacking of the Australian Parliamentary Email System, the result is "China rejects Australian hacking allegations" (ABC Radio Australia, 1 May 2014, 14:05 AEST). This seems a reasonably balanced update on an old story that email on the Australian Parliament’s unclassified system was being monitored by China. I pointed out there was no way to know who was doing the monitoring, this should be investigated, but it is was not a major security issue. The problem with security in parliament house is that while public servants are trained in security measures, this is less the case for the MPs and their political staff.

ps: It was amusing to be described as a "cyber warfare specialist" at the Australian National University. I actually teach IT ethics and sustainability at ANU. I did work for the Defence Department, but mostly on essentially administrative IT policy.

Friday, September 21, 2012

E-learning to Reduce the Education Divide

Greetings from the final plenary session of the Innovation in Education Showcase at the Ethel Tory Centre of the Australian National University in Canberra. Earlier, Senator Gary Humphries, related his experience as a student at the ANU 30 years ago, when most assignments were handwritten and documents were provided in the library on microfilm and contrasted it with today. He pointed out that while introducing new technology we need to keep the social element of university alive. This theme was then up by Alexander Hayes in the last presentation, speaking on the Socio ethical implications of location enabled body wearable technologies. Earlier in the week I presented on "A Green Computing Professional Education Course Online using eBooks".

Thursday, August 23, 2012

e-Tabling Documents for Australian Parliament by 2013

In "e-Tabling Documents for Australian Parliament" (July 28, 2012), I proposed that the Australian Parliament change its procedures to allow the tabling of electronic, rather than paper, documents. Dr Andrew Leigh MP (my local member) has replied to say that a digital repository for the Parliamentary Papers Scheme is in development. It is planned to try it later this year, with full implementation in 2013, if all goes well.

The details are in:

"Inquiry into the development of a digital repository and electronic distribution of the Parliamentary Papers Series", Joint Committee on Publications, Australian Parliament, 24 June 2010
Presiding Officers' – further response, Joint Committee on Publications, Australian Parliament, June 2012 (PDF 46KB)

... The Parliamentary Papers Series (PPS) is 'a comprehensive collection of information that documents public policy formulation and administration of government since Federation'. 1

It includes all the documents of a substantial nature that have been tabled in either or both the Senate and the House of Representatives, such as parliamentary committee reports but also documents provided by the executive. Although the PPS includes papers prepared by and for the executive, it is administered by the Departments of the Senate and the House of Representatives. ...

Recommendation 1
The committee recommends that an electronic PPS be developed and implemented.

Agreed. The Presiding Officers agree that a basic electronic PPS be developed as soon as practical. In accordance with the business case, an easy to use web interface will follow and two additional stages investigated subsequently. The initial stage will result in access to the tabled documents through the APH website and will be ongoing from the date the series is implemented. The additional stages to be further investigated include digital access to other tabled papers and the back capturing of the documents which form the PPS to date.

Recommendation 2
The committee recommends that the parliamentary departments undertake a business case to examine issues relating to the maintenance of electronic records and long-term archival requirements that would be required in developing an electronic PPS.

The recommendation has been implemented.

Recommendation 3
The committee recommends that the parliamentary departments develop a digital repository for the PPS based in the Parliament.

Agreed. The Presiding Officers note that while the digital repository is to be based in the Parliament, the responsibility for providing the information in a timely manner resides with the author agencies. The Presiding Officers note the AGIMO requirement for departments and agencies to ensure that the on-line versions of documents tabled in Parliament are identical to those that are posted on their websites. This existing requirement provides surety of the content of the documents to be included in the ePPS.

Recommendation 4
The committee recommends that a business case, referred to in recommendation 2, also
include:
The scope for other tabled documents not in the PPS to be made available through the repository; and
The costs placed on the parliamentary departments to provide the repository.
The recommendation was implemented in the preparation of the business case.

Recommendation 5
The committee recommends that author departments and agencies be required to provide electronic copies of documents at the same time print copies are provided for tabling in the Parliament.

The Presiding Officers will ensure that electronic copies of documents prepared by either chamber department or the Department of Parliamentary Services, including parliamentary committees, are provided for inclusion in the ePPS.

It is noted that the government response to this recommendation indicates that the electronic documents will not be provided prior to tabling.

Recommendation 6
The committee recommends that a digital repository for the PPS be in production and accessible to users by early 2011, to coincide with the start of the 2011 PPS.

This recommendation could not be met.

Recommendation 7
The committee recommends that the chamber departments administer a digital repository for the PPS.

Agreed. The Presiding Officers support the administration of the digital repository for the ePPS by the Department of the Senate and the Department of the House of Representatives.

The Presiding Officers note that the parliamentary departments have jointly considered the most cost effective means to introduce the new format and that it will use IT services supported by the Department of Parliamentary Services. ...

From: Presiding Officers' – further response, Joint Committee on Publications, Australian Parliament, June 2012 (PDF 46KB)

Saturday, July 28, 2012

e-Tabling Documents for Australian Parliament

This is to propose that the Australian Parliament change its procedures to allow the tabling of electronic, rather than paper, documents. This will reduce cost and resource use, as well as improve the readability of the documents.

Currently the Parliament forces a wasteful duplication on agencies, which are required to prepare documents on paper for tabling, along with an electronic version for the public after tabling. Most of the paper copies printed are probably never opened, let alone read. Also, because the Parliament requires the electronic version to closely match the paper edition, the design of the electronic version cannot be optimized for on-line viewing.

I suggest the priority be reversed, with the agencies producing an electronic document, which is also suitable for printing. This will allow the design to be optimized for on-line viewing. The printed document will not look as well laid out as one specifically designed for print, but will be usable.

Converting to electronic tabling would require a few small changes to the wording of procedures. The "Guidelines for the Presentation of Documents to the Parliament" could be changed slightly to remove mention of "printing":

"... Documents should be ~~printed~~ created in accordance with standards prepared by the Joint Publications Committee ..."

The Parliamentary Papers Series (PPS) procedures require 100 copies of documents to be delivered to a location in Canberra for distribution. These complex and expensive procedures could be replaced with a simpler procedure, where one electronic copy of the document is delivered to parliament and distributed via the parliamentary web site.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Senate Committee Recommends Electronic Health Records

The Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs has reported on the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records Bill 2011,19 March 2012. Despite privacy concerns expressed in evidence to the committee, the report largely supports the implementation of eHealth records.

The committee made three recommendations:

(2.24) The committee recommends that the review of the operation of the Act that will occur after two years pursuant to Clause 108 specifically consider the issue of the appropriateness of the vesting of the System Operator responsibility in the Secretary of the Department of Health and Ageing as well as possible alternative governance structures.
(2.46) The committee recommends that the review of the operation of the Act that will occur after two years pursuant to Clause 108 consider the opt-in design of the system including consideration of the feasibility and appropriateness of a transition to an op-out system.
(2.85) The committee recommends that the bills be passed.
From: Chapter 2 - The bills, Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records Bill 2011, Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs, Parliament of Australia, 19 March 2012.

Contents
MEMBERSHIP OF THE COMMITTEE (PDF 24KB)
Chapter 1 - Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records Bill 2011 and the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011

The referral
Scrutiny of Bills consideration
Conduct of the inquiry
Background to the policy development
Structure of the report

Chapter 2 - The bills
Introduction
An overview of the PCEHR system
General support for eHealth
Governance arrangements
Functionality of the PCEHR System
Timeline
Australian Greens Additional Comments

Australian Greens Comments
No Access
Default Access Controls
Definitions
Use of data in research
Australian Greens Recommend
Dissenting Report by Coalition Senators
Adoption, Functionality and Interoperability of the PCEHR
“No Access” Controls
The Consumer and the Bill
Privacy
Legal Liabilities
Risk and Patient Safety
Conclusion
Appendix 1

Submissions received
Tabled documents
Answers to questions taken on notice
Appendix 2 - Public hearings

An overview of the PCEHR system

2.5 The PCEHR system will enable any Australian to register for an eHealth record and at the time of registering choose who will be able to access their record and the level of access that those parties may have. Consumers who elect to register will also be able to nominate a representative to help them manage their PCEHR.[5] ...
2.11 Submitters to the inquiry have been in favour of the benefits that will result from the implementation of the PCEHR system, many recognising that it is time that such a system were implemented. ...
2.18 Part 2 of the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records Bill 2011 (PCEHR Bill) sets out the governance arrangements for the PCEHR system.[19] Part 2 identifies the System Operator and specifies advisory bodies to the System Operator.[20] ...
2.21 The Australian Privacy Foundation (APF) went as far as suggesting that implementation of the PCEHR system should be delayed until the governance arrangements set out in the bill are changed. Implementation on the basis that after two years the System Operator role would be transitioned to an independent body was not enough to allay their concerns ...
2.22 The Medical Software Industry Association (MSIA) also 'believes the System Operator (as described) is impossibly conflicted with roles as System Operator, System funder, and NEHTA Board Member.'[26] ...
From: Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records Bill 2011, Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs, Parliament of Australia, 19 March 2012.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Parliamentary Report on NBN

The report "Broadening the debate: Inquiry into the role and potential of the National Broadband Network" has been released by the Australian House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications. The full report is 426 pages, available as one 4.3 Mbyte PDF file or chapter by chapter (with a HTML version to follow). This is a mostly upbeat report about what the NBN could be used for (if we had it), rather than looking into the cost of building it.

Report Contents

Preliminary pages: Contents, Foreword, Committee Membership, Terms of Reference, List of Abbreviations and List of Recommendations

Dissenting report: Mr Paul Neville, MP, Mr Paul Fletcher, MP, Mrs Jane Prentice, MP

Appendices

Recommendations:

That the Government continue to coordinate the implementation of the National Digital Economy Strategy across government, ensuring appropriate regulatory frameworks are in place and promoting a consistent trans-sector approach to supporting its goals.
That the Government require its departments to report against the goals identified in the National Digital Economy Strategy in their annual reports.
That the Government continues to implement broadband-enabled technologies into its own services and operations as a means of improving efficiency, as well as to encourage NBN uptake and utilisation.
That the Government continue to support strategically targeted pilot projects in cooperation with relevant industries and communities that model innovative applications of the NBN.
That the Government consider allocating resources to each Regional Development Australia committee to allow these bodies to provide enhanced local digital economy leadership. This leadership role should include identifying regional goals and implementing related strategies and programs.
That the Federal Government develop a comprehensive engagement strategy incorporating a range of approaches to promote the uptake of broadband and digital technologies during the NBN rollout.
That, recognising the important roles of public libraries and community centres, the Federal Government works in an appropriate capacity to implement a network of public access points connected to high speed NBN services in as many communities as possible.
That the Federal Government, with other organisations as appropriate, develop targeted programs for those currently disadvantaged by the digital divide to improve awareness of publicly available high-speed internet facilities, to improve access, and to promote the development of relevant skills.
That the Government provide continued support for organisations involved in the development of high speed broadband applications.
That the Government maintains regulatory support to encourage increased levels of research and innovation in the private sector and recognises the NBN’s importance to the realisation of its innovation agenda.
That the Government develop a strategy for the digitisation of Australia’s culturally and historically significant content.
That the Government facilitate discussions between representatives of key content industries and internet service providers to work towards an agreed framework for minimising online copyright theft.
That the Government provide further support for digital literacy programs, based on the Broadband for Seniors kiosk model, making use of existing resources such as libraries and not-for-profit groups where possible.
That the Government continue to support programs that equip small and medium enterprises with the knowledge and support they need to compete in the digital economy.
That the Government develop strategies for the collection and provision of data on workforce needs in the ICT sector into the future.
That the Government develop a long term strategy to up-skill and/or retrain the existing workforce and develop new training programs to address emerging skills gaps.

My Submission Cited

My submission "Broadband for a Broad Land" has been cited six times in the report. I suggested the NBN could help with education, but this will require a large investment in teaching teachers how to teach on-line (a topic I am studying on-line). Also I discussed how the NBN could help the environment, but this would take some planning and investment.

While it says in the report "... Mr Worthington also told the Committee ...", the committee did not ask me to give verbal evidence and has gone just by what was in my written submission. This shows the value of a carefully written submission, which has been formatted so it is easy to cut and paste from. ;-)

Quotes:

Chapter 4: Education

4.98 Mr Tom Worthington, an independent IT consultant and computer scientist based in Canberra, stated in his submission to the Committee that governments are paying for ‘unnecessary duplication’ across education sectors in both online learning and physical infrastructure. Mr Worthington wrote that substantial savings could be obtained through the creation of an ‘Australian Learning Commons’ consisting of multi-use school buildings and free sharing of teaching materials throughout Australia:
Despite work on a national curriculum ... individual teachers have to find materials to teach. Sharing of materials can be facilitated by the use of Creative Commons licensing, which allows any teacher to use the materials produced by any Australian educator, without the need for separate permission or payment of fees. ¹⁰⁹
4.99 Mr Worthington noted that the long term restructuring of the education systems towards a more efficient and effective ‘blended’ mode of education will require ‘retraining of teachers, restructuring of courses and the remodelling of buildings’ at a cost ‘far higher than for the implementation of the NBN itself’. ¹¹⁰ However, he also noted that due to the relative size of Australia’s expenditure on education, if the NBN can enable a 10 per cent reduction in the cost of education it would be enough to pay for the entire network within eight years. ¹¹¹
From: Page 94

Chapter 5: Infrastructure and the environment

5.2 The Committee was told that an expanded digital economy, supported and enhanced by the NBN, can provide a means to ‘dematerialise’ the traditional economy. That is, it can replace ‘physical goods and activities with network based alternatives’, ¹ ...
1. Mr Tom Worthington, Submission 17, p. 4.
From: Page 97

5.11 The Committee acknowledges the views of some contributors that the NBN also has the potential to harm the environment and therefore supports constructive advice to mitigate any negative impacts. Mr Tom Worthington submitted that the technology being deployed in the NBN is relatively energy efficient; however, as the NBN will be overall a very large user of electricity, the network should be designed in such a way to minimise energy consumption:
... for a given technology, as the data rate increases, so does the power consumption. Most of the time, most of the NBN will be carrying little or no data. The equipment used should therefore be designed to switch to a low power mode to conserve energy when possible. ¹³ ...
5.12 Mr Worthington also told the Committee that ‘in the absence of sufficient planning and investment, there is a risk the NBN will harm the environment through the creation of electronic waste’, in particular the back-up batteries provided with NBN Co’s household units and equipment such as ADSL modems that will be made obsolete under a FTTP network. ¹⁴ Citing similar concerns, the Communications Alliance indicated to the Committee that it ‘strongly supports’ an ‘opt-in’ policy for NBN back-up batteries to help minimise the potential for improper disposal of such waste. ¹⁵
From: Page 99 of Broadening the debate: Inquiry into the role and potential of the National Broadband Network, Report of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications, Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, August 2011

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Australian Opposition Broadband Policy

Malcolm Turnbull, Shadow Minister for Communications, outlined the coalition policy on broadband at the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) 20 July 2011. Unfortunately Mr. Turnbull has not provided a copy of the speech, nor has CEDA. From media reports, it would appear the coalition policy differs only in detail and timing from the ALP Government policy.

The Government is decommissioning the copper network and replacing it with fiber to the home, terrestrial fixed wireless and satellite (for more remote areas). Revenue from urban areas would cross-subsidize rural users, to provide national uniform pricing.

The coalition alternative is to install fiber in new greenfield urban areas and where the copper has deteriorated. Where copper cable is in good condition it would be used for fiber-to-the-node. The existing hybrid fiber/coaxial network installed for Pay TV would be retained. Vouchers would be provided to subsidize rural subscribers.

The difference between the two policies is mostly one of timing. The ALP policy will see a much more rapid replacement of copper with fiber.

The Coalition also proposes a Productivity Commission inquiry into how to deliver broadband. Such an inquiry is likely to come up with whatever answer the government of the day wants. The results of the inquiry can be predetermined by the brief the commission is given. If given a brief with a short timescale, emphasizing cost to the government, then the Coalition policy will look better. If told to look at the long term social and economic benefits, then the ALP policy will be better.

The common factors between the Coalition and ALP policies are the recognition that fiber is the better long term option and that regional areas will need a subsidy for social equity reasons.

The deficiencies in both the government and opposition policies are the lack of recognition of the growth of mobile wireless devices and the need to invest to get the community, business and government "broadband ready".

Mobile Broadband as the Predominant Internet Access Method

The coalition and ALP policies both assume that fixed broadband to homes is the primary service required. This fails to recognize the rapid increase in the use of wireless broadband with mobile devices, such as smart phones, tablet computers, popularized by the Apple iPhone and Apple iPad. There are now broadband plans for less than $10 a month being offered which include the tablet computer.

Low cost laptops with wireless are also becoming common. The influence of the mobile paradigm is now spreading to the desktop, with the new Microsoft Windows, Apple OS and Linux user interfaces for desktop computers being modeled on a mobile interface. Mobile is becoming the predominant paradigm, with fixed devices being required to fit in with this.

For a consumer who primarily uses the Internet via their mobile device, it will not make much sense to be tethered to a home fixed line connection. There may be savings in cost from using the fixed link and higher more reliable capacity, but these will hardly be compelling. Rather than wireless being an add-on for a fixed connection, as at present, the fixed link will need to adapt to be an add-on to mobile access.

Making the Community, Business and Government Broadband Ready

Both coalition and ALP broadband policies take a "build it and they will come" approach, in assuming that the available broadband will be used and will result in social and economic benefits. However, seemingly inevitable developments, such as the paperless office and TV based education, did not happen as expected.

While the cost of the NBN is criticized by the opposition, its cost will be dwarfed by the cost of the Australian economy adapting to its use. Use of on-line working will require the retraining of the workforce and the introduction of new systems.

There are also be negative social and economic effects of broadband, which need to be taken into account. Readily available on-line services will result in the reduction of face-to-face services. Access to services via broadband will open the Australian service industry to overseas competition.

Broadband can be used to provide e-health and e-learning to regional areas of Australia. However, not only will this allow provision of services where there are no face-to-face services currently, but also it will allow government and commercial providers to withdraw face-to-face services in urban areas. Just as ATMs resulted in fewer bank branches, broadband will result in fewer clinics and schools.

The policies also assume that services over broadband to regional Australia will be provided from other parts of Australia. However, once the fiber is laid, the extra cost of access from another country is minimal.

One way to maximize the positive social and economic benefits of broadband is to invest in training and systems to make use of it.

Broadband Use Does Not Happen Naturally

One of the assumptions of the coalition and ALP broadband policies is that its take-up will happen naturally. However, my experience with working on e-learning over the last few years has shown this is not the case. Even ICT professionals, who are highly skilled at using computers and the Internet need to be trained in how to use it for education. ICT professionals undertaking on-line courses need to be shown how to use it for their education and , in particular, how to have a productive and professional on-line discussion with their peers.

Teachers, even university lecturers in ICT, need extensive training in how to use ICT for education. Educators need to learn new skills. It is not just a matter of replacing the classroom with a video conferecne. The teaching staff also need extensive support with the software and systems used. The situation is likely to be the same with e-heath and with other service providers.

The Austrlaian Government has made a start with its Digital Education Revolution (DER) strategy. But far more than the allocated $2.4B will be required to support integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in Australian schools. More funding will also be needed for the vocational and higher education sectors.

Australia needs to invest heavily in training the workforce in the use of broadband. If not, other countries, particularly Indian companies who then outsource to less developed countries, will be providing the bulk of these services within a few years.

More in my submission to the Inquiry into the role and potential of the National Broadband Network: "Broadband for a Broad Land: The role and potential benefits of the National Broadband Network the for Environment and Education".

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Democracy Implemented in XML

All 110 years of transcripts of parliamentary proceedings are now available for the Australian Parliament as search-able web content. Hansard, as the record of the Senate and House of Representatives, is known, display by default in HTML, but can be downloaded as XML (under a Creative Commons licence) for analysis.

Here is an example. Starting at the search page, I entered my name "Tom Worthington", which produced 66 Matches:

[20] Committees
[9] Library
[29] Media
[1] Publications
[7] Senate

Date

[8] 2010s
[47] 2000s
[11] 1990s

Nine of these are catalog entries for my books held in the Parliamentary Library, such as Green Technology Strategies. Twenty are mentioned in Parlimentary committees. Only seven are actual mentions by parliamentarians in the Senate.

One mention I get in Hansard is from 1999:

ADJOURNMENT - Information Technology: Access - Senate Hansard - 9 August 1999
so ago. This year's theme `The Bush Telegraph for the 21st Century' targeted questions of information technology for non-metropolitan regions. The range of speakers included Tom Worthington , who is the immediate past president of the Computer Society; Fay Lamont, a finalist in the Telstra Businesswoman of the Year Awards...

Clicking on the link brings up that the portion of the Hansard, as a web page. There is an option to Download the Fragment as PDF, or as XML.

While it is good that Hansard is available online, the interface could be improved:

Have a link on the word "Search" in text on the Parliament home page (currently it is in an image with the phrase "ParlInfo Search"),
Include the word "Hansard" on the search page,
Add an option on the search page to limit results to the Hansard,
De-clutter the search results page, by moving from the top to the bottom: "Note: Where available, the PDF/Word icon below is provided to view the complete and fully formatted document", "View Or Save XML" and "Download Fragment". Those who need these options are likely to scroll to the bottom and find the, for everyone else it will not matter.
Check the search page displays correctly on a range of browsers, including those for non-Microsoft operating systems, smart phones and tablet computers (on my Firefox 3.6.17 browser, the search box is off the right side of the page).

Monday, May 09, 2011

All Australian Parliamentary Speeches Online

All 110 years of transcripts of parliamentary proceedings are now available for the Australian Parliament. The Parliamentary Library claims that Hansard for the Senate and House of Representatives has been converted to XML for easy online access under a Creative Commons licence.

While it is good that Hansard is available online, the interface could be improved. What I would like to see is the link to "Latest Hansard" actually link to the latest Hansard. Also it would help if there was a search facility offered and a list in chronological (or reverse cronological order). As it is there is an "Indexes to Hansard bound volumes"in PDF format, which is of no use to someone looking for content in the online edition. As it is now I was unable to find any of the XML versions of Hansard, just the old difficult to read PDF version.

Digital Hansard
Hansard
Hansard is the name given to transcripts of parliamentary proceedings. The Senate and House of Representatives Hansards are available on the Internet each morning following a sitting day. Hansards of Committee hearings are also available online.
Hansard is now fully online from the first sitting day - 9 May 1901. A digitisation project has resulted in Hansards prior to 1980 now being available in Portable Document Format (PDF) files and as text that can be searched (Extensible Markup Language or XML).
What is available online?

Until mid 2010 Hansard was available online only from 1981
During 2009-11 over 600,000 pages of Hansard (from 1901 to 1980) were digitised and are available online for full searching.

Digitisation project
The Department of Parliamentary Services funded a digitisation project to ensure all Senate and House of Representatives Hansards were available online to the public.
The conversation was done using an Australian company. Technical details are:
High quality scanners were used;
Image resolution was 300dpi;
challenges included changing styles of recording proceedings, changes in fonts and formating;
a 5 step processing occurred for each page to ensure all content is marked as header, tables, graphics, new day and more;
f every page of the scanned files was sequencing for accurate conversion;
indexes were created automatically; and
a new ingest process was developed for the Hansard repository
To find Hansards go to either:
http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/index.htm
http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/
How to search Hansards
ParlInfo Search (http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/) allows the following searching:
Simple
Advanced
Advanced allows Hansards to be selected.
Hansards can be searched or browsed by many attributes including:
Date;
Speaker; and
Words in a speech.
An online guide and tips sheets can be found under the Help tab in ParlInfo Search.
Using material from hansard
Parliamentary information is published under a Creative Commons license. It uses a Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence.
By using this licence, material is free to share — to copy, distribute and transmit under the following conditions:
Attribution - Users must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
NonCommercial - Users may not use this work for commercial purposes without our permission.
No Derivative Works – Users may not alter, transform, or build upon this work without our permission.

Errors in digitised material
If you identify any errors in digitized material please contact ParlInfoSearch@aph.gov.au to enable corrections to be made.
Significant speeches
Some of the significant speeches now available online include:
First substantial speech in the parliament – William Groom, (Protectionist, Darling Downs), 21 May 1901 from page 763.
First year of the Great War – speech by Prime Minister Andrew Fisher (Protectionist, Wide Bay) 4 August 1915 from page 5556.
First female member of the House of Representatives Dame Enid Lyons (UAP, Darwin (Tasmania)). First speech 29 September 1943, from page 182.

First female member of the Senate (Dame) Dorothy Margaret Tangney (ALP, Western Australia). First speech 29 September 1943, from page 30.

First Aboriginal member of parliament Sir Neville Bonner (Liberal, Queensland) sworn into the Senate on Tuesday 17 August 1971, first speech, from page 553.
World War II. Prime Minister Robert Menzies (UAP, Kooyong) addressed Parliament three days after the announcement of war on 6 September 1939, from page 28.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Department of Parliamentary Services
Parliament House
PO Box 6000
CANBERRA ACT 2600

Email: ParlInfoSearch@aph.gov.au

http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/index.htm

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Government 2.0 at Parliment House

At Parliament House Canberra today, I attended the Gov 2.0 lunch with Alison Michalk on Community management . Also Professor Rachel K. Gibson, Institute for Social Change, University of Manchester, said a few words on research in the UK and Australia on use of Internet in election campaigns.

Alison Michalk on Community management

Alison, Quiip Director and Community Manager, said: "People will come for the information but they will stay for the relationships". People will be initially attracted to on-line forums for formal information, but they will only stay if the connect with interesting people.

Alison argued that the people selected for managing an on-line project are most important, the technology less so. Community managers ensure a productive on-line forum. A "leader" mitigates risk. They enforce the legal rules as well as the less formal customs and positive behaviour. As a "participant" the manager observes. It occurs to me these are the same skills we teach tutors for on-line education discussion forums (and also teach to the students). It is something we should be teaching school students. Craig commented that BangThe Table runs training for its product, but which also teaches some of the skills.

Alison pointed out that there are legal risks with user generated on-line content. One way to reduce the risk is by building loyalty and trust with participants. There are risks to the participants of the forum, as well as the organisation hosting it.

One of the audience asked why there was not a law stopping Defence personnel from posting denigrating comments on Facebook. This seemed an odd question to me, there are laws about what you can say to who, which clearly apply on-line as much as anywhere. Also there are specific rules which apply to Australian Defence Force personnel. More than 15 years ago I wrote a couple of circulars at HQADF to make it clear that such rules applied online and it was only a matter of days before I had a call from the Military Police investigating someone.

Alison recommended the flicker and yahoo answers guidelines. She warned against "sock-puppeting" where there appears to be two people having a discussion, but it is really just the one person. It occurs to me this is a modern version of the "Socratic Dialogue".

Alison recommended post-moderation in general, but there may be some higher risk topics requiring each post to be approved in advance.

There is an "Australian Community Managers" Facebook group run by Alison for those interested.

Professor Rachel K. Gibson on E-Participation in elections

Professor Gibson talked about the research she is doing with ANU on the question of if the Internet has changed election campaigns. The question is if there are "Citizens Initiated Campaigns". She is presenting a seminar on "What is ‘E-Participation’?" at ANU in Canberra, 4pm, 19 April 2011.

Rachel used the example of the "My Barack" campaign website. I was skeptical as if this was really citizen driven, or just the usual party machine applying new tools to an old centrally run campaign agenda.

It occurs to me that the sort of DIY tools in the Barack Obama campaign are online equivalents of traditional local grassroots political party tools. It may be that there will be a brief opening up of such activities until the central party machines work out how to take tight central control.

Rachel commented that green voters were more active on-line in Australia and Liberal Democrats in the UK. She suggested this was because small parties have less money and so have to make more use of low cost tools. However, I suggest that the Greens and Liberal Democrats have a less centralised structure which allows grass roots membership participation.

Friday, March 04, 2011

National Broadband Network Submissions

There are now 180 published submissions to the "Inquiry into the role and potential of the National Broadband Network" (including my submission) and one from Australian Computer Society I helped with). This is for the Austrlaian Parliament House Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications. I looked at the first 47 previously. The 133 latest submissions follow a similar patter, with many being from local government and regional development bodies. The newer submissions include many from health related organisations. Some of which caught my attention were:

Also:

ps: While I am currently a Visiting Scientist, I did not shave any thing to do with the CSIRO submission.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Broadband for Environment and Education

Note: this is a HTML version of Submission 17 to the Inquiry into the role and potential of the National Broadband Network, received by the Australian House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications, 14 February 2011.

Broadband for a Broad Land: The role and potential benefits of the National Broadband Network the for Environment and Education

Submission to the Inquiry into the role and potential of the National Broadband Network

Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM

PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia http://www.tomw.net.au t: 0419496150

Version 1, 13 February 2011

About the Author

Tom Worthington is an independent IT consultant, an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the School of Computer Science at The Australian National University and a Visiting Scientist at the CSIRO ICT Centre. He has been an expert witness in several court cases involving international patent, computer, web and Internet issues, as well as advising governments and companies on computer problems. He is a course designer and teacher for vocational and postgraduate university courses on e-records management, green ICT, the design of web sites, e-commerce and professional ethics. In 1999 he was elected a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society for his contribution to the development of public Internet policy. Tom is a Certified Professional, past president, Fellow and Honorary Life Member of the Australian Computer Society, a voting member of the Association for Computing Machinery and a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. This submission is made as an individual and may not reflect the views of any of the organizations mentioned.

Introduction

This submission addresses two issues: the environmental costs and benefits of the NBN and its role in education.

The Australian Parliament has invited submissions for an Inquiry into the role and potential of the National Broadband Network (the Inquiry) by 5 February 2011. This is a very important topic, as while billions of dollars have been committed to building a broadband network, little thought or investment has gone into what it might be used for.

The cost of the NBN (about $43B over 8 years) should be seen in perspective with other public expenditure. As an example Australian public expenditure on education each year is 4.5% of GDP (from "Education in Australia", OECD, 2008), or about $56B (based on the OECD States Extract estimate of Australian GDP of $1,253,121.0 for 2009). If the NBN achieved a 10% saving in the cost of education, this would pay for the capital cost of the entire network in eight.

The role of the NBN in chaining the way Australia does business should also not be under estimated. Presently work on reducing Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, even by a modest amount are stalled. In 2008 the Climate Group estimated that ICT could reduce carbon emissions by 15%. Effective use of the NBN could result in a larger carbon emissions saving while lowering costs to the economy at the same time.

Previous Broadband Inquiries

In the mid 1990s a series of Australian parliamentary inquiries looked into the role of what was then called the "Information Superhighway". There was a broad consensus across political parties that policies and investment by government to encourage what became known as the Internet was in the public interest. Roger Clarke wrote "Vision for a Networked Nation" in 1994, with my assistance, and we submitted it on Behalf of the Australian Computer Society to several of the inquiries. Successive state and federal Australian governments drew on the rhetoric and the specific proposals from these enquiries. Most notable was Networking the Nation (DCITA 1996).
Also state and federal government implemented the idea of funding Internet access in public libraries.

Recent public debate has become bogged down in the technical details of how to implement the NBN and its cost. Little tought has gone into how government, households and businesses will effectively use such a service. Of itself the NBN will do little, as people will need training in how to use the NBN to make it of value.

The NBN could greatly benefit the Australian community, culturally, economically and environmentally. Australians will have better access to medical, financial and educational services, particularly in regional areas. However, the NBN will only provide the technical link for households and small businesses. To provide a useful service, cultural, educational, medical, financial and government services need to be provided online and staff trained to use them to provide useful services.

In many cases the necessary network connections are already in place for medium to large organisations to provide services via the NBN, but appropriate software, procedures and trained staff are also needed. The cost of training staff and the community to use the NBN will be higher than the capital of the NBN . However, if that training is incorporated into normal staff training, schooling and community education, the overall cost can be lower. The NBN can pay for itself in savings for education alone.

Terms of Reference

The NBN Inquiry Terms of Reference, listed listed eight areas to examine, in relation to the capacity of the National Broadband Network:the delivery of government services and programs:

achieving health outcomes;

improving the educational resources and training available for teachers and students;

the management of Australia's built and natural resources and environmental sustainability;

impacting regional economic growth and employment opportunities;

impacting business efficiencies and revenues, particularly for small and medium business, and Australia's export market;

interaction with research and development and related innovation investments;

facilitating community and social benefits; and

the optimal capacity and technological requirements of a network to deliver these outcomes.

From: Terms of Reference, Inquiry into the role and potential of the National Broadband Network, House Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications, House of Representatives, Australian Parliament, 16 November 2010

The eight areas can be grouped into four broad categories:

Social impacts:
1. achieving health outcomes;
2. improving the educational resources and training available for teachers and students;
3. facilitating community and social benefits;
Regional and environmental impacts:
1. the management of Australia's built and natural resources and environmental sustainability;
2. impacting regional economic growth and employment opportunities;
Business impacts:
1. impacting business efficiencies and revenues, particularly for small and medium business, and Australia's export market;
2. interaction with research and development and related innovation investments;
Requirements:
1. the optimal capacity and technological requirements of a network to deliver these outcomes.

The fourth area "Requirements" differs from the other three, in that it is about what is needed from the NBN to achieve favourable outcomes in the other areas.

What is the NBN?

The two Key Objectives for the NBN, as set down in the NBN Co. Corporate Plan, are to

Connect homes, schools and workplaces with optical fibre (fibre to the premises or 'FTTP'), providing broadband services to Australians in urban and regional towns with speeds of 100 megabits per second - 100 times faster than those currently used by most people extending to towns with a population of around 1,000 or more people;

Use next generation wireless and satellite technologies that will be able to deliver 12 megabits per second or more to people living in more remote parts of Australia; ...

National Broadband Network Corporate Plan 2011 – 2013 (NBN Co., 17 December 2010),

The NBN is in essence about delivering broadband to homes, schools and workplaces. The most significant aspect in terms of social policy is delivery to homes. It is likely that this will be the area it has most impact in terms of education, health, the environment, business and employment.

The NBN will deliver two different levels of service: 100 mbps in the city and 12 mbps in the country. There is a risk that this will make greater the disadvantages of distance. Services which require more than 12 mbps will only be available to city residents. However, 12 mbps is sufficient for many current and foreseen online services and so is more likely to lessen the disadvantages of regional areas. Also many online services are now being designed for use with wireless smart phone and tablet devices, which will have much less than 100 mbps capacity, making a 12 mbps connection more than adequate.

Delivery of broadband to schools was already under-way through other government programs and so the NBN will have little direct impact on broadband use on school premises. Similarly, organisations having medium to large offices are able to arrange the installation of high speed broadband and so the NBN will have little direct impact on these. It is in the area of micro and small business and in home users where the NBN can have more impact.

The NBN will have an impact on education, business and employment by allowing greater access from homes. Activities which previously required people to meet at a central location will be able to be done online from home. This will have a profound effect on education, government and business, at a local, national and international level.

The main issues for the NBN are not technological, but social, in terms of how people interact: how much will they use the NBN in place of face to face contact? The NBN can reduce financial, social and environmental costs by replacing travel to school, shop or office with online communication. But how many will use this and what might be the side effects?

NBN and the Environment

NBN can reduce dependence on transport of people and goods, thus reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. In 2008 the Climate Group estimated that ICT could reduce carbon emissions by 15%. However, this will not happen without explicit planning and investment. In the absence of planning and investment, there is a risk the NBN will harm the environment through the creation of Electronic waste ("e-waste").

Each NBN fibre optic node in a household will require a battery to provide service in the event of a mains power failure. Without such a backup, 000 emergency phone calls will not be available via the NBN, nor will back to base fire-alarms, or medical alert systems operate. Replacement of millions of batteries in the NBN equipment, containing toxic materials, represents a risk to the environment from improper disposal.

The consumer equipment made obsolete by the NBN will also contribute to e-waste. The NBN will make obsolete millions of ADSL modems, which will require disposal. An example of where this problem is now occurring is with the transition to digital TV. The Australian government has a long term plan to replace analogue with digital TV transmission. However, no provision has been made for disposal of millions of obsolete analogue TVs, which may end up in landfill.

The NBN will also be a major consumer of energy in Australia and may increase greenhouse gas emissions. The NBN is primarily a Passive Optical Network (PON). This is relatively efficient in its use of energy, as reported by Zhang and others in "Energy Efficiency in Telecom Optical Networks" (Communications Surveys & Tutorials, IEEE , vol.12, no.4, pp.441-458, Fourth Quarter 2010). However, for a given technology, as the data rate increases, so does the power consumption. Most of the time, most of the NBN will be carrying little or no data. The equipment used should therefore be designed to switch to a low power mode to conserve energy when possible.

The NBN could reduce energy use in Australia through "dematerialisation", that is replacing physical goods and activities with network based alternatives. Examples of de-materialisation include replacing travelling to meetings with videoconferencing and paper documents with electronic ones. This saves the energy used in transporting people and paper from place to place. However, it requires the people to be trained in how to work effectively online. As an example, Australian MPs are provided with computer networking to their electorate offices, but this system is not used for conducting parliamentary proceedings. Such use would require MPs and their staff to be trained in how to use such a system (and some minor changes to parliamentary rules).

NBN and Education

The NBN could revolutionise education in Australia. However, this requires coordination of education resources and planning. In a speech to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia the Prime Minister discussed the need for "Skills for the Future", with education at schools, vocational education at TAFE and university education. However, at present those education sectors are handled in a fragmented way, with duplicated underused facilities.

Australia is a world leader in e-learning, with the Australian developed Moodle open source software being deployed in schools, vocational education and universities. The same software tools, online facilities and educational techniques are applied from school through TAFE to tertiary education. The US Government's "National Education Technology Plan 2010" (November 2010) provides one model for the use of technology to assist education.

A revolution is now taking place in the design of physical educational facilities. "Learning Commons" with flexible classroom designs are being built at schools and universities. However, the different education sectors are duplicating the work needed for both online learning and for physical infrastructure, with the federal and state governments paying for this unnecessary duplication.

As an example of how resources can be used more efficiently, the Australian National University uses Moodle for pure e-learning courses, such as Green Information Technology Strategies COMP7310. The ANU also uses the same software for blended online/classroom Engineering 'Hubs and Spokes ' Project in collaboration with the University of South Australia. The allows advanced courses presented by world leaders in their field to be made available to more students. The use of online systems also lowers the energy use and therefore greenhouse gas emissions by replacing classrooms with e-learning and reducing the need for students and staff to travel to a campus. Teaching skills can also be shared between institutions.

The Australian federal and state governments have jointly funded programs to educate school and university teachers on how to use online education, including EdNa and the Australian Flexible Learning Framework. These provide the opportunity for not only improving Australian education but also maintain Australia's major export industry in educating international students.

It should be noted that the NBN represents a risk, as well as an opportunity. Not only will the NBN allow Australian students to enrol in Australian courses online, but they can equally choose to bypass Australian institutions and enrol in overseas courses. The international agreements which Australia has concluded for access to education with countries such as India, not only allows Indian students to study in Australia, but allows Australian students to study in India. Students need not leave home to study overseas. If Australia does not continue to innovate in the education sector, it will not only loose the valuable market for overseas students, but will also loose its domestic education market to overseas suppliers.

Some early use of the technology provides pointers for the future. Australian educators are pioneering the use of online education. This shows that online education cannot completely replace face-to-face teaching, particularly for younger students. A blended (hybrid) mode of education has been adopted in many areas. With this the student undertakes part of a course online and partly in a classroom. However, provision of broadband at home and in educational facilities is the simplest and least expensive part of the process.

The blended mode of education will require retraining of teachers, restructuring of courses and the remodelling of buildings. The cost of this restructuring of the Australian education sector will dwarf the cost of the NBN itself. The logistical and political complexity of changing the education system will be far higher than for the implementation of the NBN.

The cost and complexity of remodelling Australian classrooms to take advantage of the NBN will be far larger than the $14.2b Primary Schools for the 21st Century component of the Australian Government's "Building the Education Revolution". It has been assumed that providing broadband to schools involves providing a fibre cable to the premises and perhaps some re-cabling to deliver it to classrooms. However, to gain educational benefit from the broadband requires a change in the way education is done and the redesign of the classrooms to accommodate this, turning them into "learning commons".

One aspect of the change to education which will be less difficult is the curriculum. The work by federal and state government on a National Curriculum for Kindergarten to Year 12, will provide a useful framework for work on integrating online education into schools. This will allow resources to be shared across geographic and organisational boundaries. Students in different locations can share the same course materials, take part in the same classes and be part of study groups. Use of online educational facilities can greatly enhance the national curriculum, reduce the cost of its implementation and speed its introduction.

Australian Learning Commons Proposal

As an example of policy to augment the NBN, it is suggested that all Australians be offered free online publicly accessible education from pre-school to university level. This would be supported through a program of multi-use schools, vocational education and university campuses equipped to provide public facilities.

Multi-use school buildings

The current model of education in Australia is that students enrol in a educational institution associated with exclusive use of a particular physical location. This should change to so that a student enrols in a course online and then attends face-to-face classes, when necessary, at the most convenient physical facility. Schools, public libraries, vocational and unviersity education can all be provided in the same shared buildings. This will lower the cost of education and increase access to education.

The new $72.4 million Gungahlin College in Canberra provides a good example of this approach. The College will accommodate 900 upper secondary students and includes a CIT learning centre (for vocational TAFE education). The college library will be available to the community, providing learning rooms for both child and adult students.

The Gungahlin College is planned to have a 5 Green Star design rating from the Green Building Council of Australia. The ACT Government aims to install photovoltaic (solar power) systems at all public schools over the next four years. One enhancement I would suggest is extra investment so that the solar panels can provide emergency power to the buildings during blackouts. This way the schools can be used as emergency centres during disasters. As recent flooding in Queensland has highlighted, standard solar panels cease to provide power when mains power is lost.

Online educational materials available to all Australians

eLearning Services at the Queensland Department of Education and Training has made ‘virtual classroom’ spaces available for students where the January 2011 floods have disrupted normal classes. This, and similar initiatives, could be expanded to to provide educational resources to students across Australia. Rather than online support for education being a special exception made in an emergency, materials and support could be made as a normal and routine part of education at all levels.

The Queensland Department of Education is providing Maths, English & Science materials, including:

Resources - self-paced digital learning resources by year level
Activities - self-paced structured lessons by year level
Programs - self-paced vodcasts or daily scheduled multimedia events by year level

There is also a special collaborative project Healing words - Helping hands for Education Queensland teachers to discuss the floods and share experiences.

Despite work on a national curriculum, educational system (state or non-government), individual teachers have to find materials to teach. Sharing of materials can be facilitated by the use of Creative Commons licensing, which allows any teacher to use the materials produced by any Australian educator, without the need for separate permission or payment of fees.

References and Background

This document contains hypertext links. Please check the committee web site for an electronic copy with the links: http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/ic/NBN/subs.htm

Background on preparation of this submission is at: http://blog.tomw.net.au/2011/02/broadband-for-broad-land-envrionment.html

Note: this is a HTML version of Submission 017 to the Inquiry into the role and potential of the National Broadband Network, received by the Australian House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications, 14 February 2011.

Friday, February 25, 2011

The Role of Broadband

There are 47 published submissions to the "Inquiry into the role and potential of the National Broadband Network" on on the the House Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications web site. Some which got my attention were:

The number of submissions by councils is significant:

AARnet and Two Universities:

Other Organisations:

Others were from individuals: