Vale Stephen Conroy, Communications Minister

Fantastic article today by Renai LeMay at Delimiter on Stephen Conroy’s resignation:

“…when I think of Senator Conroy in 2013, I see the opposite: Conroy’s not the enemy of the Internet. He’s its main champion in Australia. Over the second half of his tenure as Communications Minister, the Senator went native and became one of our own: A self-professed geek; Australia’s most technically knowledgeable politician; a late night reader of Internet forums; a passionate visionary who burnt himself up in the flames of his idealism in his quest to bring universal high-speed broadband to all Australians.”

I was no fan of Stephen Conroy when he began in 2007 & was intent on pushing an internet censorship agenda into this country. Over time, and as the NBN became a reality (& consequently, political hot potato), my opinion of the Communications Minister changed.

Renai is absolutely right; it’s plainly obvious that his vision has been absolutely instrumental in bringing about a major infrastructure project in Australia. One that will be used & appreciated by all Australians many, many decades into the future.

Sad to see him go.