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AUSTRALIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY IN AN INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT: ISSUES FOR THE FUTURE
Abstract
Australian telecommunications policy is undergoing a period of rapid change. Policy statements released to date have placed emphasis on competition and liberalisation but with a focus on the domestic situation. Australia's involvement in international telecommunications policy change has received less attention than domestic telecommunications reform issues. It is argued in this paper that the success of what Australia wants to achieve nationally through telecommunications will depend in large part on international telecommunications regulatory developments and Australia's response to them. The complexity and direction of international change in telecommunications requires a more sophisticated approach to policy development than has taken place in Australia to date. This paper sketches an outline of current trends in international telecommunications reform, Australia's response to them and identifies issues for the future. These future issues include information policy, tensions between competition policy and trade policy, industry policy, direct foreign investment, and codes of conduct for multinational companies. Some areas requiring further research are also identified.
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NOTES AND REFERENCES
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These principles (MFN, National Treatment and Transparency) are more broadly applicable than in the GATS but are closely linked to international trade policy in this context. For a discussion of these principles see Industries Commission, Annual Report 1994–95, AGPS, Canberra, 1995
Phillip Evans, Unpacking the GATT: A Step by Step Guide to the Uruguay Round, International Organisation of Consumers Unions, London, 1994, p. 32.
Peter Drahos, ‘Global Property Rights in Information: The Story of TRIPS at the GATT’, Prometheus, Vol. 13, No. 1, 1995, pp. 6–19
Peter Drahos, ‘Information Feudalism in the Information Society’, The Information Society, Vol. 11, No. 3, 1995, pp. 209–222; P Hirst and G Thompson, ‘Globalisation, foreign direct investment and international economic governance’, Organization, Vol.1, No.2, 1994, pp. 277–303
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ibid., pp. 42–43
Michael Lee, Minister for Communications and the Arts, ‘A New Era in Telecommunications’, News Release C76/95, 1 August 1995
Innovate Australia, 6 December 1995 - available from the Department of Industry, Science and Technology, Canberra. The Information and Communications Services and Technologies Strategy is contained in these set of papers.
ibid., Section 10.2, Information and Communications Services and Technologies Strategy.
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ibid., p. 42
DFAT, Winning Markets: Australia's Future in the Global Economy, AGPS, Canberra, 1995 cited in Industries Commission, Annual Report 1994–95, AGPS, Canberra, 1995, p. 115
Lisa Filipetto, ‘A key role in trade development’, Insight, 4 April 1995, p. 5 (Insight is an internal magazine produced by DFAT).
ibid.
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For example, DFAT has produced several descriptive booklets on the outcomes of the Uruguay Round but little detailed publicly available literature on Australia's involvement in WTO with respect to telecommunications is available from DFAT. Details of US strategic planning are contained in Office of Technology Assessment (US Congress), US Telecommunications Services in European Markets, US Government Printing Office, August 1993, pp. 135–158
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ibid., p. 93
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Michael Lee, op.cit., Policy Principles 90–92.
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See for example Richard A. Joseph, ‘Direct foreign investment in telecommunications: a review of attitudes in Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany and the UK’, Telecommunications Policy, Vol. 19, No. 5, 1995, pp. 413–426; Peter Drahos and Richard A Joseph, op.cit.
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