Technology lost in the election static

By PETER GRIFFIN

You may have seen the leaders' debates, the endless polls and the fiery interviews that have pepped up this election campaign. But you probably have not heard words such as "broadband", "internet" or "open-source" pass the lips of too many politicians lately.

No, IT policy does not quite cut it against easy-to-communicate issues such as slashing crime, slowing immigration and lower taxes.

But as IT minister Paul Swain comes to the end of three relatively successful years, it is a good time to reflect on where we have got to, and comparing the major parties' positions on key IT issues.

cmy 0,100,100,10 E-legislation col 0 While Swain pushed hard to squeeze the Telecommunications Act through Parliament just before Christmas, two important pieces of legislation are still gathering dust. Both the Electronic Transactions Bill, giving electronic activity the same standing as paper-based transactions, and the Crimes Amendment Bill (No.6), which will tweak the law to account for e-crime, have been shelved yet again.

Swain says his failure to get the ET Bill through is his biggest regret as minister.

"It's imperative to getting New Zealand back into the top half of the OECD that it is passed," he says.

Swain is promising both pieces of legislation before Christmas - something we have heard before.

National is "really angry" that the ET Bill was not passed last year, says IT spokesman Maurice Williamson.

"I was getting it ready in 1999. We gave an offer of facilitating it through rapidly.

"We only wanted two hours of debating time for it," he says. "It could have been passed."

Support for the bill is widespread in the House.

Act supports both bills, as does New Zealand First, although IT spokesman Peter Brown says they needed no urgency.

Likewise, the Alliance cannot see what all the fuss is about.

"They are just two of a large number of very worthy bills that are waiting for time in the House so they can be debated," says leader Laila Harre.

The Greens accept the ET Bill but want to ensure consumer rights "are not muddied by ambiguities in the bill", says IT spokesman Nandor Tanczos.

But the Greens oppose the "electronic snooping" provisions in the Crimes Amendment Bill.

"No evidence has been produced to justify remote access powers and the bill contains few checks and balances," says Tanczos.

If the bill goes through anyway, the Greens want audits of interception warrants and notification where innocent people have had their emails intercepted by mistake.

cmy 0,100,100,10 E-government

col 0 Labour got its two-pronged strategy off the ground early in its term. It involves building a mega-portal for citizens - a place where you will eventually be able to do everything, from buy a dog licence to browse the births, deaths and marriages register.

The second component is an "e-procurement" system that will allow Government departments to organise all their suppliers through one central system.

Swain disputes criticism that the pace of progress is too slow.

"The British Government, for example, started quickly but has since pulled back a lot of its e-government stuff," he says.

Unable to come up with a better idea, the other parties largely endorse Labour's e-government developments so far.

Then there is the "open-source" issue - the argument that the Government should steer away from traditional software providers such as Microsoft to Linux and Apache, software built on code available for all to tweak.

The Government has expressed cautious interest in open-source software but on the other hand is about to embark on a multimillion-dollar bulk-buying exercise with Microsoft, the open-source movement's nemesis.

National does not think it is a political issue. "It's not for ministers to decide. Leave it to the chief executives [of Government departments]," says Williamson.

"But it's no good getting it free or cheap and then it costing millions to maintain."

New Zealand First sees open-source as a good alternative to bulk-buying deals with the major software vendors, and the Greens are also interested in going open-source.

"The German Government has recently made a commitment to open-source software and we will watch this closely," says Tanczos.

The Alliance has no open-source policy.

cmy 0,100,100,10 E-learning

col 0 Labour says improvements to the student loan system are helping people lift their skills.

It also points to various "digital divide" projects and computers-for-schools programmes that started last year.

A major 7th form IT qualification is about a year away, says Swain.

The Green Party says its proposal for a universal student allowance, a fee cap of $1500 and a debt writeoff in return for working in New Zealand will encourage IT training.

It wants more resources for the online learning portal Te Kete Ipurangi (www.tki.org.nz) and more e-learning homework centres.

New Zealand First supports the Government's developments in IT training.

The Alliance plans to scrap the student loan scheme and fully fund tertiary education.

Act fudges the skills issue. IT spokeswoman Muriel Newman says Act favours replacing the "centrally run bureaucratic education system with one featuring individually managed schools".

cmy 0,100,100,10 Investment

col 0 Act's recipe for injecting life into the IT industry is simple: lower taxes and less red tape.

But tax breaks for foreign investors are not a major feature of any party's policies.

The Greens would support foreign direct investment in new enterprises with majority local ownership and set up more advisory services for small businesses.

New Zealand First says its R&D policy allows for tax incentives that lead to export and employment growth. It would also expand venture capital funding.

The Alliance sees the Government "in a facilitation role rather than as a provider of incentives", says Harre.

Labour has thrown a few million dollars at the IT industry and promoted local high-tech companies through Trade New Zealand, but has offered nothing to lure high-tech research labs such as Motorola's, which at one stage wanted to set up in New Zealand.

Williamson says it is no good attracting foreign investment if there is a shortage of skilled IT workers.

"Foreign investment has just about dried up and we're woefully down the chain on IT, biotechnology, science and engineering training," he says.

National says lower taxes will encourage foreign direct investment. cmy 0,100,100,10 Infrastructure

col 0Broadband, or high-speed, internet to all parts of the country is a key plank of all parties' IT policies.

Labour got the ball rolling with a series of rural broadband pilot schemes. It also plans to have most schools wired with high-speed internet by the end of next year - a target most think it will not reach.

"The hourglass is running fast," Swain admits.

Still, the other parties find little fault with Labour's broadband strategy.

But if Swain is proud of his baby, the Telecommunications Act, National and Act want to tear it apart.

While Swain claims the new regulatory environment will stimulate competition and therefore the use of broadband, National would review the act, strip out the Telecoms Commissioner's role, revisit the issues of mobile roaming and co-location, and establish a complaints authority.

Act also want a review of the Kiwi Share and the Telecommunications Service Obligations.

The Greens want "community" internet rates - between residential and commercial rates - and quicker local-loop unbundling.

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