Another Australian communications industry group hangs up the phone...

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I argued some time back that the launch of the Australian Communications Consumers Action Network (ACCAN) - effectively a government-controlled industry group designed to represent citizens (how this can ever be is surely astounding) - would lead to the end of the true citizens' voice in the tightly-controlled and rather unrepresentative Australian communications industry. The recent collapse of the Internet Industry Association (IIA) continues this inevitable trend.

When the Australian Telecommunications User Group (ATUG) ceased operations in 2011 (soon after ACCAN commenced operations), then Shadow Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull stated that:

The organisation and its members have made a powerful contribution to the telecommunications debate over many years. Sadly, consumers will need more representation rather than less in an NBN world, where the government-owned monopoly will have power to increase prices on most products by 5 per cent more than inflation, and will have no competitive pressure to respond to customer concerns.

When the Australian Government essentially created a lobby group to lobby itself,  there was hardly a murmur from the industry. Indeed, ATUG's demise was largely brought about by the larger telcos deciding not to renew their membership. 

It seems that the IIA found itself in the same leaky boat.

Now with only the government-controlled ACCAN and the industry-controlled Communications Alliance surviving, Australian consumers have no real voice in the industry at all.

Book Notes: "Picasso" by Gertrude Stein

Picasso by Gertrude Stein

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is the first of Gertrude Stein's work I have read. You can definitely feel the intention that quite possibly influenced Hemingway's style, but I can't help thinking that Stein was one of those many intelligent people who cannot write very well. If anything, I shall probably remember her classification of Picasso's various periods simply through her repetition. It is a very quick read expedited by the various useful pictures of Picasso's work and a handful of photographs. Nonetheless, I doubt I would have bothered to read this if the subject matter wasn't of interest and Stein had not been a part of Hemingway's early development.



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Book Notes: "Frankenstien" by Mary Shelley

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I must say that reading classics often leads to a surprising plot. Stories such as Frankenstein have been re-imagined to death, revived and then re-imagined again so many times that the original story is completely lost, and one's imagination has already been influenced. Nonetheless, the morality of the sciences, when considered in its proper historical context, means that this work is extraordinary no matter how one analyses its significance. Is Shelley really trying to critique the overly task-focused masculine role in child-rearing and the consequences of a lack of nurturing? Or is it simply a case of the morality of the sciences meddling with the unknown, or a critique of the grotesque practice of body-snatching before the introduction of the Anatomy Act of 1832, Shelley's revision of the text and subsequent introduction in 1831 were at the very least contemporaneous. To put it simply, the story addresses multiple issues and provides numerous launching points for discussions that go far beyond the mere plot. As for the plot itself, I couldn't help thinking that Frankenstein was a wimpy complainer who whinged and whined endlessly, even in the re-telling of his tale it is surprising he didn't collapse and die of shame before making it to the ice. I found it unnecessary for Shelley to belittle the Turkish businessman and revitalise the Crusades simply to enable Frankenstein's creation to learn to speak, read and write, but I am often surprised by seemingly intelligent people who are racist and ignorant to the core. Other than that, the higher-level super-plot issues make it worth the effort.



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