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From Governance to e-Governance Read chapter Read first chapter

2013 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

5. Information Technology and the Role of Government in Australia: Political Ideology and Discourse in the “Asian Century”

Author : Prof. Amita Singh

Published in: A Critical Impulse to e-Governance in the Asia Pacific

Publisher: Springer India

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Abstract

The chapter that follows focuses on a detailed case study of changing government policy in regard to the provision of ICT infrastructure in Australia from the 1980s to the current day. However, it is not just relevant to the discussions of the practical relationship between governance and ICT provision that has been discussed earlier in this book, it is also highly relevant to the theoretical engagement with issues of technology and e-governance that have been raised in chapters II and III. In terms of arguments raised in Chapter II, the analysis in this chapter provides practical examples of how discourse around ICT is implicated in a rethinking of the nature and scope of both governance and the economy. Indeed the provision of ICT is seen as crucial for citizens and the nation’s welfare. The case study also raises questions about how an attempted democratisation of ICT provision, in terms of extending government subsidised provision, is still constrained by the role of the private sector and market economics.

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previous chapter Towards Sustainability of e-Governance
next chapter Privacy, Control and the Law
Footnotes
1
For general arguments on the social shaping of technology, see MacKenzie and Wajcman (1985). For a more detailed analysis of the social shaping of technology during the Keating period and the role of neo-liberalism, see Johnson (2000, pp. 125–128) and Andrews (2006). Australia was not of course alone in the influence of neo-liberalism on technology policy, see, e.g. Braun (2006).
 
2
The Liberal Party is the major conservative party in Australia, i.e. the term Liberal is not in the American sense (that implies progressive left policies) but in a sense that draws on broader liberal democratic traditions, including increasingly a combination of free market and socially conservative views.
 
3
There were also some Liberal state politicians who were ICT enthusiasts, e.g. Jeff Kennett and Alan Stockdale in Victoria.
 
4
On broadband and indigenous communities, see Rennie et al. 2010.
 
5
For a more detailed analysis of Latham’s position on these and other issues, including the major influence of neo-liberalism on his thought, see Johnson (2004).
 
6
For a detailed account of Telstra’s actions in regard to broadband (albeit from a former Optus executive and Liberal staffer), see Fletcher (2009).
 
7
For a Liberal account of Liberal policy and its differences with Labor’s plan, see also Smith and Robb (2010) and Smith and Conroy (2010).
 
8
On Blair’s view of British technological superiority, see Johnson (2002, pp. 166–167).
 
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Metadata
Title
Information Technology and the Role of Government in Australia: Political Ideology and Discourse in the “Asian Century”
Author
Prof. Amita Singh
Copyright Year
2013
Publisher
Springer India
Book
A Critical Impulse to e-Governance in the Asia Pacific

Print ISBN: 978-81-322-1631-5

Electronic ISBN: 978-81-322-1632-2

Copyright Year: 2013

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1632-2_5