After weeks of rumour, Richard Alston is confirmed to be Australia's next High Commissioner in London. Alston was the former Federal Minister for Communications, and, in my opinion, the worst minister in the Howard government.
Alston presided over a portfolio of which he seemed to have little understanding. In 1999 he introduced an act to regulate content on the Internet, despite advice that it would not have the desired effect. Cynics would argue that the act was to placate Senator Brian Harradine, who held the Senate balance of power at the time, in a bid to get him to support the full sale of Telstra. Both moves failed.
Telstra, despite being majority owned by the government, was allowed to use its monopoly over the telecommunications network to thwart competion. Several times the ACCC ruled against Telsta's anti competitive practices but was never chastised by the Minister.
Alston botched the introduction of digital television (DTV). Instead of backing the implementation of multichannel Standard Definition DTV, he fell into line with media owners by backing single channel High Definition DTV. He then introduced regulations that prevented new players from using the DTV medium.
The ABC was a favourite target of Alston's. Under his watch, Jonathan Shier was appointed Managing Director. Shier's caustic management style saw internal upheaval and an exodus of talent from the corporation.
Alston was a constant critic of the ABC's news and current affairs coverage, particularly claims of bias when reporting the Iraq war. Alston's official complaints were investigated several times, and apart from some minor issues, were found to be groundless.
Now, as a reward for his exemplary service, he's been appointed to the diplomatic cocktail circuit in London at $200k per annum.
Nice work if you can get it.
And he referred to the internet as the "computernet" on more than one occasion.