Law needs clear lanes to stop meddling politicians
Are you unserious?
Telstra’s been told
The Telstra outage caused genuine concern for Australians unable to contact emergency services. Any failure affecting Triple Zero access deserves urgent investigation and improvement. Beyond those serious cases, however, the public reaction highlighted just how dependent we have become on technologies that barely existed a generation ago, when we arranged meetings in advance, relied on landlines, carried cash and accepted that communication was not always instantaneous. Today’s smartphones have created an expectation of constant connectivity. When that disappears for a few hours, many of us seem ill-equipped to cope. This outage should encourage telcos to build more resilient networks, while reminding us to maintain simple contingencies – have a landline where practical, some cash and a little self-reliance. For the vast majority of Australians, this was ultimately a first-world problem.
All telephone providers interconnected? What next? All railways using the same gauge?
Profit for private eyes
Thank you, Alison Pennington, for saying what so many of us have known for years. The privatisation of key sectors just doesn’t work for the average citizen. It makes chief executives and private entities rich and widens the wealth gap, while at the same time creating havoc with the delivery of key services. Education, health, childcare, aged care, employment and disability services have all suffered under the “privatisation is better” myth. It’s time to change the narrative before it’s too late.
Balancing act at ABC
Next red card
Nuclear test fails
Lessons from war
Reading: the right act
Long live picture palace
Lost in France
