Stanners on Broadband

My former colleague, Russell Stanners has according to this report, suggested that the government substantially increase the proposed investment in Ultra Fast Broadband.

He said:-

Speaking at the Telecommunications and ICT Summit in Auckland, Stanners suggested that the government should increase its investment from $1.5 billion to $5 billion in the UFB. He compared the proposed fibre network to the roading network and pointed out that while $30 million( suspect mis-report and that he meant 30 billion ) of public money (for example user road charges, fuel taxes, rates) will be spent on the roading network in the next ten years, only $1.5 billion of taxpayer money will be spent on the Ultra Fast Broadband network.

I think he is right.

Yesterday, I attended the Open Government 2010 conference, Stephen Joyce in his keynote spoke about the UFB initiative. Yet unlike when I first heard John Key announce this as National policy prior to the 2008 election, I felt yesterday that the vision had been lost.

UFB has the potential to materially transform our econony in many respects. If ubiquitous and cheap, it will enable a radical change in work habiuts, commuting patterns, demographics and population densities. These will contribute to a reduction in carbon footprints, fossil fuel usage and a myriad of other costs. The tyranny of distance will be substantailly mitigated, in my view.

The social benefits of the government investment will be returned many times over from economic growth, reduction of pollution, etc.

For many who know me this view may seem strange, but I do consider that this approach will substantially assist our economy. Apart from anything else it offers the opportunity to counteract past shifts from the provinces to the urban sprawl. I commend Russell for raisng this critical issue. It needs to be discussed and debated rationally.

But, and this is a major BUT, as part of this change we must ,and I emphasise must, address the digital divide which Trevor Mallard noted in his comments as a panelist yesterday.  This is especially important if as a nation we are to truly reap the benefits of UFB.

More to come in later posts.

Allan Hubbard

Recent events have made times more difficult for SCF.  The placing by the government of Allan Hubbard and entities associated with him into statutory management renders the task of Sandy Maier and his colleagues more difficult.

Bernard Hickey in this piece takes a relatively pessimistic view, one contary to that of many Hubard supporters.

Brian Gaynor in a recent column pointed out that just because someone gave money to charity did not absolve them form complying with the law.

Much of the furore over Hubbard, is I suspect due to the fact that he is perceived as a good person, whereas many other finance company heads are not perceived in that light. It is possible, and I have no knowledge one way or the other, that Hubbard’s ways of conducting business may have exposed him, albeit with no intent as many might undertand, whereas others despite public perceptions to the contrary will have taken steps to ensure they are legally protected.

It would appear, see Rebeccas Macfie’s latest article on Hubbard in the July 3 Listener, not online unfortunately, that part of the issue with Hubbard might be that he still believes in trust and one’s word being one’s bond. Consequently, as evinced by the support for him, he has he believes acted accordingly. Unfortunately, for Hubbard times have changed and he may be the victim of such change.

I express no opinion one way or the other. However, for their sake, I hope that the trust of Hubbard’s supporters has not been misplaced materially. Yet at the same time we need to have appropriate enforcement of legislation. That means as well that the authorities need to examine as well just what went on in other finance companies, especially if Hubbard is to be faulted for related party transactions and or faulty disclosure.

Been away

I’ve been in Auckland and then at The Mount.

Sorry for for not being too regular with posts, but have been quite busy.

I will try and post a little more regularly, especially as there are some current issues worthy of comment.