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Conroy's Broadband Future Conference: Photos

Telstra has not been separated and construction of the NBN on the mainland is still in the pipeline, but today saw Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd kick off a conference that was designed to help Australia understand how 100 megabits per second broadband can be used.
By Liam Tung, Contributing Writer
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1 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Delegates mill about before the arrival of Minister for Communications Stephen Conroy and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at day one of the "Realising our Broadband Future".

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2 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Matt Tett, Enex Test Labs' boss and the man behind Conroy's mandatory ISP filter live trial. Don't even try to ask him about the filter. He's heard it a thousand times.

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3 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

NBN Co chief Mike Quigley on the phone. Not impressed with early morning snaps.

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4 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Doug Campbell, head of NBN Tasmania, and telco analyst Shara Evans of Market Clarity

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5 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Senator Kate Lundy, Competitive Carriers Coalition's David Forman and Ravi Bahtia, chief of ISP iPrimus.

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6 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Conroy arrives on time.

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7 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Conroy greets the head of The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Paul Twomey

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8 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Pre-keynote nerves are showing.

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9 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Conroy remembers the "multibillion-dollar negotiations" he's facing with Telstra. He later said "significant progress" on the deal would be announced by Christmas.

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10 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Conroy's Department of Broadband men: Abul Rizvi, deputy secretary for Broadcasting, Regional Strategy, Digital Economy and Corporate; Carl Toohey, Conroy's policy advisor; Tim Marshall, Conroy's outgoing media advisor.

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11 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Channel Seven ISP subsidiary Unwired's regulatory affairs officer, David Havyatt, greets Conroy.

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12 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Conroy greets a delegate. Around 1000 people were turned away from the event. The 350 that were allowed to attend had to be able to offer value to the conference.

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13 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Future applications for the NBN on display. But are these smart trains, smart grids or smart Lego?

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14 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Deena Shiff, group managing director Telstra Business.

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15 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Mark Scott, managing director for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation arrives on time.

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16 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

The media (right), Conroy and his team (left) wait patiently for Kevin Rudd to arrive.

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17 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Conroy greets the Internet Industry Association's chief executive and "friend of the court" applicant in the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft's Federal Court copyright battle with ISP iiNet, Peter Coroneos.

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18 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Better late than never. Kevin Rudd arrives in the "PM-mobile".

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19 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Kevin Rudd climbs out of the car.

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Kevin Rudd makes a swift ascent.

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21 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Rudd greets Conroy, Twomey and a delegate.

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22 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Enjoying Rudd's speech: NBN Co chief, Mike Quigley and keynote speaker Jeffrey Cole, director USC Annenberg School. Cole supports the NBN but only requires 10Mbps broadband for his home use. He later said to journalists that he was reaching the limits of his bandwidth and that he has fast broadband at work.

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23 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Kevin Rudd takes the stand and jokes that "IT nerds" do not party as hard as Labor Party politicians.

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24 of 24 Liam Tung/ZDNet.com.au

Mike Quigley pores over his notes before taking the stand to explain why fibre to the home is necessary.

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