Tech sector loses a friend as Tanner resigns

The Federal Government has taken a further step toward adopting a more open and collaborative culture based on Web 2.0-style tools, with Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner issuing a Declaration of Open Government on behalf the Commonwealth that serves as a blueprint for ongoing Gov 2.0 development.

Minister Lindsay Tanner, heavily involved in Labor's IT policies over the last decade, says he will leave parliament, saying the timing has nothing to do with Rudd's dumping.

The Federal government has unveiled its whole-of-government strategic ICT workforce plan and ICT career structure in order to develop an ICT workforce “that can meet the Federal Government’s future ICT needs,” according to Lindsay Tanner, minister for finance and deregulation.

The Daily Telegraph this morning reported that at least 10 parliamentary computers, including those belonging to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and Defence Minister Stephen Smith, were suspected of being hacked, with government sources linking the attacks to foreign spy agencies.

The Daily Telegraph this morning reported that at least 10 parliamentary computers, including those belonging to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and Defence Minister Stephen Smith, were suspected of being hacked, with government sources linking the attacks to foreign spy agencies.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard this morning claimed the Opposition was still determined to destroy her government's flagship National Broadband Network project, and would take a policy to the next election of literally ripping the initiative's fibre-optic cables "out of the ground".

The Federal Government today claimed it had "made history" this morning after it officially launched live services on its flagship National Broadband Network project on the mainland, in a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and a host of other parties associated with the telecommunications sector.

Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull has described claims by Prime Minister Julia Gillard this morning that a Coalition Government would "dig up" NBN optic fibre out of the ground instead of using it as "ludicrous" and "false".

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has pinned Labor's re-election hopes on a neatly woven narrative about the transformation of the Australian economy and delivery of government services that puts its National Broadband Network at the core of the final week of campaigning.