<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div><div>On 02/01/2008, at 6:59 PM, Bevan Slattery wrote:</div><blockquote type="cite"><div><p dir="LTR"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: -1; "><span lang="en-us"><font color="#0000FF" size="2" face="Courier New">- when the industry explains that this can't be done a number of vendors with</font></span><span lang="en-us"> <font color="#0000FF" size="2" face="Courier New">financial interests will say 'this can be done' and the good Senator will sing their praises and highlight how the industry has got</font></span><span lang="en-us"> <font color="#0000FF" size="2" face="Courier New">it wrong again.</font></span></span></p></div></blockquote><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>That is why the industry shouldn't rest its case on the notion that it</div><div>can't be done. </div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>The industry should rest its case on things like:</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>"Every time you bozos examine this issue you keep coming up</div><div>with the same tired answers, and every time you do it you're </div><div>completely wrong. Again. When are you going to get smart?"</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>(forces them to defend their record before they can advance<br></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>a policy agenda)<br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>and:</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>"My grandmother uses Google to search for recipes, and my </div><div>14 year old daughter uses the Internet to help out with her</div><div>high school physics projects. None of these people are complaining</div><div>about Internet content. Why is it that Federal politicians comprise</div><div>the only serious social group left in this country who doesn't `get'</div><div>the Internet? Why are the most fearfully ignorant, out of touch</div><div>people in Australia allowed to be in charge of everything all the</div><div>time?"</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>(forces them to distance themselves from ignorance and<br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>fear before they can assert any leadership authority over<br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>the issue)<br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>and:</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>"The previous Government thought this was a good idea, and</div><div>spent $220m on NetAlert to prove the point, and we all know how </div><div>that turned out. Why is the new Labor Government behaving like</div><div>policy copy-cats? Can it be that they've only been in power for</div><div>two months and they're ALREADY out of new ideas, recycling</div><div>the old ones that failed for the Liberal Party?"</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>(forces them to re-defend copycat policymaking, something</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>which was a serious criticism during the election campaign,</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>and which they'd hope was put to bed months ago)</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>and:</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>"Australian businesses have invested considerable amounts of</div><div>money into providing commercial solutions for the Government's</div><div>perceived problem. The Government's approach will destroy the</div><div>value of those investments, along with the businesses who have</div><div>made them, by turning niche features which those companies have</div><div>developed to differentiate themselves in the marketplace into</div><div>commodities. Why is this new Government so hostile to small </div><div>businesses?"</div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>(forces them to distance themselves from one of the pervasive<br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>negative stereotypes of Labor governments before they can<br></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>assert any leadership authority over the issue)<br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Each angle is a two or three sentence soundbite which </div><div>surreptiously imports a whole raft of negative political messages</div><div>which need to be answered by any politician who deigns to respond.</div><div>Politicians do not want to answer to those messages; They don't</div><div>want to mention them at all, because they're uniformly toxic.</div><div>If they respond at all, we can concentrate the resulting discussion</div><div>on the failures contained in their responses instead of their future</div><div>policy goals. Every sentence they utter will be a killing field,</div><div>because they have no good answers for any of this stuff, and </div><div>everything they say looks reprehensibly stupid.</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Some messages will work better than others; Unless they are</div><div>attempted we won't know which ones are most effective at</div><div>resonating with the public, industry and the political sphere.</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>This industry has historically been absolutely, horribly woeful at</div><div>playing politics. It's worked to our detriment every single time this</div><div>stupid issue has come up, making us sit there babbling incoherent</div><div>jargon-filled commentary the public doesn't understand about</div><div>technology while the pols stand up on their bully pulpits and</div><div>moralize until we roll over. It's happened again and again, and</div><div>it'll keep happening until we learn to respond in terms that they</div><div>understand. That means keeping the discussion away from the</div><div>tech and focussed squarely on the incompetent vapidity of the </div><div>Government's new proposals.</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>When the Government wishes to regulate the TV industry, they don't</div><div>do it without the TV industry's consent -- They know the TV industry</div><div>can and will absolutely DESTROY them in the electorate if they dare.</div><div>No, when they want to regulate the TV industry they ask Uncle Rupert</div><div>nicely over a glass of Muscat in the back room of a club somewhere,</div><div>and only make public pronouncements about how stuff is going to work</div><div>when he's quietly given them the nod.</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>We have every bit as much reach as Uncle Rupert. We're in the living</div><div>rooms of almost every house in the country, and all the voters who</div><div>have spent the last decade turning away from Television in droves </div><div>are spending their time with us instead. We have an enormous</div><div>platform, a hugely loud voice, which we've never seen fit to use.</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>But squandering it doesn't mean we don't have it.</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div> - mark</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div apple-content-edited="true"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Andale Mono'" size="1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px; ">--</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Andale Mono'"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px; ">Mark Newton Email: <a href="mailto:newton@internode.com.au">newton@internode.com.au</a> (W)</span></font></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Andale Mono'"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px; ">Network Engineer Email: <a href="mailto:newton@atdot.dotat.org">newton@atdot.dotat.org</a> (H)</span></font></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Andale Mono'"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px; ">Internode Systems Pty Ltd Desk: +61-8-82282999</span></font></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Andale Mono'"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px; ">"Network Man" - Anagram of "Mark Newton" Mobile: +61-416-202-223</span></font></font></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Andale Mono'"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></span></font></font></font></div></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"> </div><br></body></html>