Friday, May 09, 2003
And on the third day ....
I’m back online after a few days off with a mysterious bung phone line. I have no idea how Salam Pax managed to blog from Baghdad, well-into the war – although I note that he is now back online only via an amanuensis. Never mind giving Dubya’s gang the Iraqi oil monopoly (what privatisation in Australia hasn’t been accompanied by at least of whiff of scandal?), what would utterly and permanently fuck-up the post-war reconstruction would be to give Telstra a stake in it.
Because Telstra has a monopoly on the copper-wire infrastructure (as well as a near- monopoly on the parallel, pay TV cable network) it is deeply branded into every Australian’s sub-conscious, right down there alongside death and taxes.
In fact, I can see a good reason for the merger of Telstra with the Australian Taxation Office, on both non-duplication and productivity grounds. From my experience with the ATO, I think that they can fairly be described as a soft-touch (yes, I know it’s a tough job etc – but employing lightweights adds nothing but extra chips on the ATO’s already-overburdened shoulder). Here, the ATO could profit from a bit of the no-nonsense “customer service” culture at Telstra. For its part, Telstra would be relieved from having to pretend to care about anything except its revenue – which would come from a Medicare-style levy on all taxpayers. Service would continue on as before – that is to say, through sporadic transmissions on random frequencies.
I’m back online after a few days off with a mysterious bung phone line. I have no idea how Salam Pax managed to blog from Baghdad, well-into the war – although I note that he is now back online only via an amanuensis. Never mind giving Dubya’s gang the Iraqi oil monopoly (what privatisation in Australia hasn’t been accompanied by at least of whiff of scandal?), what would utterly and permanently fuck-up the post-war reconstruction would be to give Telstra a stake in it.
Because Telstra has a monopoly on the copper-wire infrastructure (as well as a near- monopoly on the parallel, pay TV cable network) it is deeply branded into every Australian’s sub-conscious, right down there alongside death and taxes.
In fact, I can see a good reason for the merger of Telstra with the Australian Taxation Office, on both non-duplication and productivity grounds. From my experience with the ATO, I think that they can fairly be described as a soft-touch (yes, I know it’s a tough job etc – but employing lightweights adds nothing but extra chips on the ATO’s already-overburdened shoulder). Here, the ATO could profit from a bit of the no-nonsense “customer service” culture at Telstra. For its part, Telstra would be relieved from having to pretend to care about anything except its revenue – which would come from a Medicare-style levy on all taxpayers. Service would continue on as before – that is to say, through sporadic transmissions on random frequencies.
