Australia in mass broadband move

23 June 2011 Last updated at 03:04 GMT The National Broadband Network Company is leading the new infrastructure project Australia's two biggest telecoms companies have joined the government's A$36bn (?24bn) plan to roll-out high-speed internet across the country.

Telstra and Optus will close down their infrastructure and transfer customers to the state-owned National Broadband Network Company (NBNC).

About 60% of households have broadband, but speeds are slow compared with many industrialised countries.

The plan is to connect more than 90% of households to a super-fast network.

The two telecoms companies already have extensive broadband operations, but the government said it would be more economical to bring all the parties together.

Telstra estimates it could make about A$11bn over several decades from the new deal as it will earn revenues through disconnection payments as well a share of profits from the new network.

Optus, owned by Singapore Telecommunications, will make about A$800m.

"Two major telcos have now signed on with the NBNC and that will mean a very strong take up," said Australia's Treasurer Wayne Swan told reporters.

"This will, of course, completely change the market structure in Australia," he said.

Broadband speeds in Australia are below the OECD average at 32.4 megabits per second.

The slow speeds are blamed on the huge distances and rough terrain that makes connecting the towns and cities across the vast Outback an expensive investment.

Opposition

The aim is to deliver broadband speeds of 100 megabits per second to homes, schools and businesses.

Only a few countries, including South Korea, Japan, and Germany, currently achieve such speeds.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has made wiring-up the country with fibre optic cables a key policy platform.

But opposition parties have called the project a costly folly and promised to review the plans should they ever get into government.

The deal still needs approval from a vote by Telstra shareholders on 18 October and clearance from the competition watchdog.

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New ash cloud chaos for Australia

21 June 2011 Last updated at 13:12 GMT Passengers at Sydney Airport frustrated by ash cloud delays

Australia's two major airports are facing up to 48 hours of disruption as the ash cloud from a Chilean volcano drifts across the south of the country.

Qantas and Virgin have cancelled all flights into and out of Sydney and Melbourne. Adelaide airport has been shut and Canberra flights also hit.

Last week, tens of thousands of people were stranded as airlines grounded flights, and now the ash has returned.

The plume is said to be too low this time for airlines to fly under it.

The ash cloud from Chile's Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano is circling the Earth for a second time.

Last week, some airlines, such as Virgin Australia, flew below and around the ash cloud, but this time they have been advised against doing so.

The ash cloud is reported to be hovering at between 20,000 and 40,000ft (6-13km).

More than 120,000 air passengers are expected to face travel disruption.

Qantas said its policy was not to fly below the ash cloud, because it brought risks that it was simply not prepared to take.

"We estimate that we will be cancelling in excess of 200 flights on Wednesday," Qantas spokeswoman Olivia Wirth told reporters.

"The experts say we simply won't be able to operate in this situation."

Knock-on effects

Australia's Bureau of Meteorology estimates Adelaide will be affected for 24 hours, Canberra and Sydney for around 36 to 48 hours, and Melbourne for 36 to 48 hours from Wednesday.

International flights inbound to Sydney have been diverted to Brisbane, ABC News reported.

Virgin's domestic cancellations alone will affect 170 flights.

Qantas' budget airline Jetstar also cancelled Adelaide and Sydney flights, while Tiger Airways is reported to have grounded its entire fleet.

Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson said hundreds of thousands of passengers would be affected across the country.

"When you take out major centres like Sydney and Melbourne, the knock-on effects of that are huge, and that's unfortunate, but safety has to come first.

"When it's safe to go flying, the airlines will go back, but not until then," he said.

George Cassavetis is stranded in Sydney, trying to get back to Brisbane. He has had three flights cancelled so far and said he was running out of money.

He told the BBC: "I can't get through to the Qantas call centre as it looks like it's overloaded and I'm getting worried that I won't be able to get on another flight, as there is going to be a big backlog of passengers," he said.

Simon Abley told the BBC that it was the second time the ash cloud had interrupted his travel plans.

"Today, I had to drive back to Sydney from Wagga Wagga in a rental car - a journey which took five hours - after my flight was cancelled," he said.

"I was charged A$750 (?490) for the rental car, which seems very expensive, and suggests someone is trying to make a killing, which is unbelievable."

Last week, 100,000 passengers and 700 flights were affected by the ash plume over Australia and New Zealand.

The Chile eruption, which began on 4 June, has caused levels of flight disruption not seen since an Icelandic volcano paralysed Europe in 2010.

In Chile, authorities have allowed several thousand people evacuated from communities close to the Puyehue volcano to return.

Officials said volcanic activity had decreased, although the volcano is likely to emit ash for some time.

In neighbouring Argentina, people in the ski resort of Bariloche, which was coated in ash, have begun a big clean-up.

Responding to a Facebook appeal, residents took to the streets on Monday armed with brooms and shovels.

The hope is that ash stops flowing before the end of June when the peak winter tourist season begins.

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Australia PM pursues asylum deal

17 June 2011 Last updated at 03:59 GMT Human rights groups say children are at risk in Malaysian detention centres The Australian PM Julia Gillard has said she will pursue a deal with Malaysia on handling asylum seekers despite a rare parliamentary rejection.

On Thursday, the Australian House of Representatives passed a motion condemning the proposed arrangement.

Australia wants to send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia, taking 4,000 confirmed refugees in return.

Malaysia is not a signatory to the United Nations conventions on treatment of refugees.

Ms Gillard's aim is to deter asylum seekers from coming to Australia by boat.

"I intend pursuing the discussions of the Malaysia agreement to finality and then I intend to implement it because I intend to break the business model of the people smugglers," Ms Gillard told parliament.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has said he is on "very strong legal ground" with the plan.

The policy has already been condemned by the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner and refugee advocates.

The BBC's Sydney correspondent Nick Bryant said the parliamentary rebuke was embarrassing.

Challenging

Ms Gillard stands at the head of a minority government, and a Greens MP and an Independent MP who normally support her joined with the conservative opposition to denounce the policy.

The government claims the Malaysian Solution, as it has been dubbed, would act as a strong deterrent for boat people heading for Australian shores and break the business model of people smugglers operating out of Indonesia.

But the Greens have opposed the policy because they believe it is inhumane, while the conservative opposition would prefer a return to what was known as the Pacific Solution.

That was a controversial policy brought in by the government of former PM John Howard whereby boat people were sent to detention centres on remote Pacific islands.

Meanwhile, a challenge has been lodged in the High Court over two of 274 refugees in limbo on Christmas Island.

Continue reading the main story Irregular maritime arrivals (IMAs) in 2010: 134 boats carrying 6,535 peopleIMAs up to 19 April 2011: 16 boats carrying 921 peopleAs of 20 April 4,552 IMAs detained on the mainland, 1,748 on Christmas Island

Source: Australian Department of Immigration

The refugee lawyer David Manne says his Malaysian challenge was based on the grounds it would separate a Kurdish man, who has been granted refugee status in Australia, from his newly-arrived wife and four-year-old son.

But Mr Bowen said there were "several provisions" of the Migration Act which allowed for the arrangement with Malaysia to be entered into.

"We are on very strong legal grounds indeed," Mr Bowen told ABC Radio.

"Blanket exemptions would be unworkable and counterproductive and would provide for a loophole for people-smugglers to exploit and encourage people to get on boats and make a very dangerous journey."

"In relation to vulnerable cases, we would take into account personal circumstances and that would be a range of personal circumstances which would go into that consideration," Mr Bowen said.

The Australian newspaper reported that negotiations with Malaysia are currently stuck on Australia's insistence that asylum-seekers sent to Malaysia be given identity papers to ensure they are not harassed by police.

It said that Australia wants Kuala Lumpur give an explicit commitment not to send refugees back to the country they fled.

Talks on the proposed deal are continuing.

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Australia to deport lone children

3 June 2011 Last updated at 03:58 GMT Refugee groups say children are at risk in Malaysia detention The authorities in Australia have announced plans to send unaccompanied children seeking asylum to Malaysia.

They would be held in detention centres while their cases are processed.

Australia's immigration minister, Chris Bowen, said it would send a strong message to deter people-smugglers selling passage to asylum seekers.

The move is part of a controversial swap being negotiated with Malaysia under which some Malaysia-based refugees would be settled in Australia.

"I don't want unaccompanied minors, I don't want children getting on boats to come to Australia thinking or knowing that there is some sort of exemption in place," Mr Bown told ABC TV late on Thursday.

He said it would send a strong message and break the business model of the people smugglers who sell passage to asylum seekers hoping to start a new life in Australia.

He spoke of how he hoped he would never again have to see children buried as a result of an overloaded boat trying to reach Australia's shores. Last December, an asylum-seekers' boat smashed onto rocks at Christmas Island, killing at least 30 people, including children and babies.

Deep concerns

However, the plan has sparked outrage and serious fears for the safety of unaccompanied minors - particularly young girls.

Girls are among nine unaccompanied minors currently being held at Australia's offshore detention centre on Christmas Island, and who are in line to be sent to Malaysia.

"The minister forgets that he is legally the guardian of unaccompanied minors," Green Party Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

"The minister, for the sake of a political quick-fix, is prepared to expend the rights and obligations he should be offering to these very, very vulnerable children."

Norman Gillespie, the chief executive for the UN children's agency Unicef in Australia, said he was "dismayed and shocked" by Mr Bowen's announcement.

"This really looks extremely callous and lacking in all forms of compassion," Mr Gillespie told ABC radio.

Amnesty International has said unaccompanied women and girls in Malaysian detention centres are prey to gangs and unscrupulous officials.

Continue reading the main story Irregular maritime arrivals (IMAs) in 2010: 134 boats carrying 6,535 peopleIMAs up to 19 April 2011: 16 boats carrying 921 peopleAs of 20 April 4,552 IMAs detained on the mainland, 1,748 on Christmas Island

Source: Australian Department of Immigration

"On top of the well-documented human rights abuses faced by all asylum seekers in Malaysia, unaccompanied women and girls face extraordinary levels of sexual violence and sexual harassment," Amnesty spokesman Graham Thom said.

Australia's human rights watchdog has called for an end to the mandatory detention of asylum seekers, citing suicides, riots and depression.

UN human rights commissioner Navi Pillay called for an end to mandatory detention and spoke of a "racist" undercurrent in Australia.

She has also been critical of Australian politicians for demonising asylum seekers for domestic political gain.

But Australia's foreign minister Kevin Rudd said the plan had backing from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Office of Migration.

"The key thing is we're taking kids out of mandatory detention, we are making sure that processing times are accelerated so that once basic checks are undertaken there is a way through this," he said.

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