With Labor now in government and the ministry announced it’s time to review what their policies mean for the IT and communications sectors.
Broadband, education and regional development were major issues in this election so there are some serious policy differences to those of the previous government.
One encouraging result for these policies is the relevant opposition spokespeople have become the ministers for those portfolios, the most important being Stephen Conroy retaining the communications portfolio. This means we have an incoming minister who is aware of the major issues in the sector.
Labor’s biggest emphasis was on education with the promise of a computer for every senior secondary student, encouragement for science and maths students, a tax deduction for parents of students and programs to encourage skilled and vocational training.
National Secondary School Computer Fund
Every child between years 9 and 12 will have their own government provided computer. This is a big headline issue as school computers are a concern for most parents whether they are in the state, independent or Catholic education systems.
The reality is most schools already have the bulk of these facilities. The real challenge is supporting the infrastructure and providing the resources for teachers to properly use these powerful tools. Rolling this out is going to be a short term boost for the IT industry.
Education rebate
Every family can claim half of their education costs up to $750 for primary and $1500 for secondary students. This can include computers, software and Internet access. This proposal is great for laptop and software vendors and its no coincidence Harvey Norman shares surged on the Monday after the election. We can expect to see small and large service providers and vendors get another short term boost out of this.
Skilling Australia
The proposal of a new training system is welcome given the problems we currently have with vocational training. But on one level this is a worry; will we see another duplication of the existing state based TAFE system like the coalition’s Australian Training Colleges program?
The encouraging part of this particular announcement is business will have a large say in the training policies. Industry has a much more acute understanding of where vocational training is needed than government.
The proposal to fund training up to Certificate III level is welcome, but some fields will need training to Cert IV, diploma and even degree and post grad level.
Overall this is good news for the IT industry, but we need to make sure we are adequately represented in the proposed industry skills councils.
Trades training centres in every secondary school
We can expect to see more techs, web designers being produced. This is good for addressing the immediate skill shortages at the lower ends of the ICT industry. Again the industry needs to make sure they are represented in the development of these centres and the allocation of resources.
Financial incentives for university students
There’s a mixed bag of ideas here with the aim of encouraging students into teaching, nursing, science and maths degrees. This is a critical investment in Australia’s future as it’s essential we get more people into these courses. This will be a long term gain for the industry.
The broadband rollout
While this is the biggest ticket item, and probably the sexiest, it does have serious effects for the nation’s development. One question is how far the previous government’s OPEL scheme has developed as we may end up with either duplication or most of the subsidy going to the OPEL partners.
Online safety
Another program that will pick up from the previous government’s policy is the cyber-safety plan. The biggest difference between the parties is Labor’s commitment to provide a family safe “clean feed”. This is going to take negotiation and may well end up being a subsidy for the incumbent telcos.
Enterprise Connect
This is not strictly speaking an IT policy, but Enterprise Connect will have an effect on IT Investments and tech innovation. The regional focus of many of the programs will be an opportunity for many businesses in those locations to invest in ICT.
Reform of the energy rating system
Another peripheral program to the IT industry are the changes to the energy rating system. Green IT will be one of the major issues facing the ICT sector in the next five years. While IT equipment was not mentioned in Labor’s policy it’s difficult to see computers not being subject to this program in the next few years.
The emphasis on education is good for the long term future of the ICT industries, for the short term the equipping of students with computers and the rollout of broadband is very good for vendors and service providers.
In the medium term, the provision of technical training in high schools addresses the skills shortages that are already biting Australian employers. There is no shortage of keen young kids that want to have a career in IT. Giving them the opportunity to develop this interest is an extremely good thing for the industry.
The long term view is probably the most important of these policies. Australia has slipped badly in technical and scientific education, the very fields that will be critical in the first half of the 21st century. Hopefully, it’s not too little too late.
One of the problems with the date of the election was its proximity to the Christmas break, as a consequence it’s unlikely we’ll see any solid government action until well into the new year.
We should always remember what politicians promise and what they deliver are often two different things. Even the most well intentioned promises may figure out differently when put into practice. We’ll be watching with interest as these policies are put into place.
You’ll have to excuse me if I have a little rant on this.
The main problem I have with the wish list of providing every child with a computer, is that the software & hardware is going to be out of date in 6 mnths, then we have a situation worse than every child not having a computer… we have every child using antiquated machinery & methods, which wont be compatible with what is being brought out.
Ditto in regards to the amount of web designers & programmers that will hit the market. Is this going to be a regulated market that will adhere to standards such as the W3C has put in place? Or is this going to be a battalion of backyard Dreamweaver trade school graduates?
The Labor government hasn’t looked into the future far enough on this venture. Very short term in my opinion.
I was recently at a launch of survey results for IT in the Peel region (one of the fastest growing regions in the world), everything was pretty much on face value. Yes IT will grow, that’s inevitable, but at what cost? Which is something that they seemed reticent to even address. IT is marvellous, IT is going to help businesses… yes, it has the potential to, just like electricity, but it has to be done right.
Earlier this year a UK client came to me with a website that had been built by an outsourced, cheap company. They had spent over $20,000 so far, but when it came to accessing their website on the mobile web, it all came crashing down on them. It took far too long to load, excessive imagery blew the design out the window, and it adhered to no accessibility standards (which after Target & the Sydney Olympic Games Committee saga, one would agree that a non-accessible website can be a “costly” situation). It was pretty much a rebuild of this site from the ground up, which ended costing more than if he had got it done right in the first place. His $20,000 budget got blown out to over $50,000.
I would say that half of my business is rebuilds. And I predict that there are going to be a lot more as the mobile web weaves it way more into our society, and accessibility infringements getting tougher.
An electrician, mechanic, builder, engineer, etc is bound by standards. Yet the government is going to put good money in after bad, with an industry that hasn’t got compulsory standards in either the web designer or software development. Unfortunately, that isn’t what is being taught in the schools (or at least not to the degree it should be).
Can businesses afford to throw this same money away each time they get a website done? The important thing that needs to be taken into consideration when it comes to web development for businesses, it isn’t just a brochure. No one in their right mind spends that much money on a brochure. Their website is as important to them as the doors they open each day for business… and many times costs a lot more than their brick & mortar. Yet at the moment it’s a game of Russian Roulette as to whether enterprises are getting what they should from their website, and most of the times they wouldn’t know they weren’t…. until they get the summons to say that a blind person couldn’t access their website, or they lost customers because their website took too long to load, or a sale lost when someone out on the road couldn’t find a business on their mobile device when something is needed on the run.
It’s all money being thrown away. So if we going to go forward in IT…. let’s do it right, rather than mopping up after mistakes later & lagging behind.