Hi,

With an election looming, I hope to do a bit of lobbying. My chief field of interest is telecommunications. There's too little time to formulate a comprehensive policy; "in principle" responses would help.

<https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Platform#Support_for_fibre-to-the-premises_infrastructure_projects> says:
"The current copper network is not sufficient to meet the requirements of a growing digital society. A fibre-to-the-premises infrastructure project that connects the majority of Australians to a fibre network, where economically feasible, is fundamental to the creation of a vibrant digital society in Australia." My own perspective is a little more radical: <http://david.boxall.id.au/201604/>. In short, I'd put the aspiration at "all Australian premises" and see how close we can get. The NBN was recently discussed at <https://discuss.pirateparty.org.au/t/pirate-party-nbn-policy/727>, but the network is far more than the NBN.

Among the questions being asked:
The anticipated service life of optical fibre is a century or so. Diligent government will plan accordingly.

What is your party's hundred-year plan for Australia's telecommunications infrastructure? What is your vision for the network in ten, twenty and fifty years' time?

What is your stance on:
1. Optical fibre to rural, regional and remote premises;
[bearing in mind the durability of fibre, its unparalleled performance over distance and its low cost per unit of time over service life
<http://david.boxall.id.au/201604/#Wellallberooned>]
2. Mobile 'phone coverage over the vast majority of Australia's territorial land areas* and;
3. Resuming public ownership of telecommunications infrastructure?
[a possible mechanism is outlined at <http://david.boxall.id.au/201604/#Remedypastmistakes>]
*I've not been able to find reliable figures on geographic mobile 'phone coverage. From the available maps, it looks as though less than 5% of Australia's territorial land areas are covered.