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Adequate and ongoing funding for a national non-government Youth Peak Body that will operate under a new model replacing the now defunct Australian Youth Policy and Action Coalition. |
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Funding to provide leadership skills, and to broaden and improve opportunities for young people to be involved in the process of youth policy development, service planning and provision. |
“I welcome the release of this report and would like to congratulate the AMA, the Centre for Adolescent Health along with those organisations supporting young people who contributed to the development of this report,” the Shadow Minister for Youth Affairs, Senator Kate Lundy, said.
“The National Youth Health Priorities 2001 report is a landmark document that serves to highlight the complexity of issues affecting the health and well being of young Australians and the need for a specialised and holistic approach to youth healthcare.
“This report acknowledges that “community consultation, community participation and control are important ingredients for increased resilience in young people”. At the same time it reaffirms the role of government in supporting participation opportunities for young people and their inclusion in decision-making processes.
“Since the defunding of AYPAC by the Coalition, young Australians no longer have an independent youth peak body advocating their needs and providing comment on Government policy decisions affecting young people.
“Not only will the provision of a youth peak body improve the coordination of collective youth services, education and services, but will allow youth organisations to get on with their core business of supporting young Australians," Senator Lundy concluded.
84/01. Media contact: Simon Tatz on 02 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
Claims by the Howard Government that nearly 400 IT jobs in regional Australia have been created as a result of the Coalition’s IT Outsourcing Program have been exposed as a sham.
On 12 January 2001, both the Minister for Information Technology, Senator Alston, and the Minister for Finance, John Fahey, issued press releases alleging that their IT Outsourcing Program has created “nearly 400 jobs in regional Australia”
This claim has now been exposed as deliberately misleading.
The Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee report into the Government’s IT Outsourcing Initiative - Re-booting the IT Agenda in the Australian Public Service - revealed that only 18 jobs were created in regional Australia.
In the section dealing with Industry Development, the Committee noted that:
Answers provided by OASITO (the Office of Asset Sales and IT Outsourcing) have heightened the reservation of some Committee members about the real extent of employment growth in regional Australia that can be attributed to IT outsourcing, and the criteria that were used by DOCITA to define regional employment.
The Committee finds that if the statistics for Adelaide, Brisbane and Canberra are taken out of the figure given below, the number of jobs cited as new regional jobs is not impressive.
The table provided by the Department to the Committee reveals that once the metropolitan centres are taken out, only 18 jobs were created in regional Australia - not the 400 or so jobs that the Coalition claims.
“The Coalition’s bungling of the $5 billion IT Outsourcing Initiative has failed to deliver any real benefits for regional Australia and the Government’s claim of 400 new regional IT jobs is simply not true,” Senator Lundy said.
83/01. Media contact: Simon Tatz on 02 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
The Shadow Minister for Sport, Senator Kate Lundy, told Parliament yesterday that the Howard Government has failed to deliver on its promises to the sporting community.
“If I was to talk about the Howard Government’s achievements in sport I’d only have one positive thing to say - they underwrote the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games,” Senator Lundy said.
“After two terms, we’ve had three sports ministers, and with all due respect, I believe the quality of performance has declined with each minister.
“The Howard Government simply does not understand that by investing in grass roots sport and recreation they will achieve a far greater return for Australia.
“The tremendous gains made from the Sydney Olympics would have been squandered were it not for the pressure the Labor Party exerted on the Coalition to reverse five years of cutbacks to both community-based sport and the Australian Sports Commission.
“The fact that the government belatedly restored funding in the last budget does not compensate for years of budget cuts and their failure to provide sport and recreation opportunities for all Australians.
“One of the mast callus acts of the Howard Government - this one perpetrated by Sports Minister Jackie Kelly - was to wield the funding axe on community sport by cutting the vital and highly regarded Sport and Recreation Development Grants program. These grants were the lifeblood of Regional Sports Assemblies and community-based sporting organisations.
“The funding may not have been large, but the Sport and Recreation Development Grants program was used by local sports assemblies to keep community sport programs operational.
“Ever since this mean-spirited funding cut was introduced, many local sporting and recreational activities have been axed.
“But if slashing funding for vital community sport wasn’t bad enough, you should here what local clubs are saying about the GST.
“Julie Sarll, chief executive officer of Vicsport, recently highlighted how the GST directly resulted in a decline of volunteers in community sport and recreation clubs. This is what Ms Sarll told The Age on 5 August:
“It’s killing them. Compliance cost in terms of the GST is a huge time cost for the volunteers and they’re just not willing to do it. They’re not willing to be a tax collector for the government.”
Ron Burns, Chairman of Sports Industry Australia, was quoted in yesterday’s Sunday Times stating:
“…people opt out of roles such as treasurer because of complications with the GST.”
“Since the introduction of the GST, I have heard from dozens of community-based clubs and sporting organisations that have lost their volunteer administrators and treasures because of the extra workload imposed by the GST. And it won’t surprise anyone that the biggest problem for non-profit sporting club treasurers and administrators is the Business Activity Statement.
“And it probably won’t surprise many people to know what Minister Kelly’s response was. According to a report in yesterday’s Sunday Times, the Minister’s office claimed she was ‘not aware’ of concerns about GST compliance!
“I suggest that reason Ms Kelly knows nothing about the problems of the GST on volunteer run clubs is that she never goes out and talks with the people who run them. This government is so blatantly out of touch that the treasurer has the effrontery to tell people they should volunteer more!
“Tell that to the overworked mums and dads out there collecting Mr Howard’s tax for the government and staying up late at night to fill in their BAS statements just so their children can play sport.
“There is no question that the GST is negatively impacting on families in terms of sport. In fact, just this month the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation sited the cost of sport as one of the major barriers preventing children from playing sport.
“This situation has become so series in recent times that the Junior Sports Unit of the Sports Commission has urged National Sporting Organisations to modify their competitions because many families can no longer afford to pay for their children’s sporting needs.
“Another group totally ignored by the Coalition is women, and sportswomen in particular know about the litany of broken promises.
“When the Howard Government launched An Illusory Image: A Report on the Media Coverage and Portrayal of Women’s Sport in Australia in 1996, they promised to increase the profile of women’s sport in Australia and increase female participation in both physical activity and senior administrative positions.
“You know what the Howard Government has done for women’s sport?
“They slashed funding to Womensport Australia. They refused to ensure sufficient funding for Womensport Australia. They asked for three-year funding cycles given that demand for their resources and services increased after the Olympics.
“They scrapped the Prime Minister’s Women In Sport Award.
“When this government was elected, one of the first things Mr Howard did was scrap the Prime Minister’s Women in Sport award. This award was extremely important in raising the profile of Australia's female athletes and creating role models for girls and young women.
“In fact, retaining rewards like the Prime Minister’s Women in Sport award is one of the specific recommendations in An Illusory Image, which was endorsed by the Coalition.
“The Howard Government also downgraded and marginalised the Women in Sport unit at the Australian Sports Commission.
“Time won’t permit me to detail all of the Howard Government’s failures in sport -
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The White paper that cost taxpayers $270,000 for what ended up a book-end in Minister Kelly’s office; |
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The non-existent 2000 Plus Task Force, which Mr Howard promised in 1996; |
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The incredible waste of money by the Minister on stunts, events, talk-fests and glossy publications; |
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The sporting ‘brain drain’ caused by the Government’s refusal to ensure funding after the Olympics; |
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And the total dismissal of the sporting needs of our Indigenous peoples. |
“In sum, this is a dismal record of failure to deliver, of broken promises and of marginalising those most in need,” Senator Lundy concluded.
81/01. Media contact: Simon Tatz on 02 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
The Prime Minister today presented young Australians with conflicting information about opportunities for National Youth Roundtable members to meet with the Federal Opposition.
During ABC Youth Radio JJJ’s Talkback Classroom, aired this morning, the Prime Minister stated:
When the National Youth Roundtable comes to Canberra there are plenty of opportunities to talk to opposition people, plenty of opportunity and look if you are an Opposition leader, you can set-up a formal consultation in a committee room in Parliament House and invite members of the youth roundtable along, end of story, it is as simple as that.
This is simply not the case.
I have consistently called on the Minister for Youth Affairs, Dr Kemp, to allow the Labor Shadow Ministry to hold private meetings with Youth Roundtable members, in a similar format to their meetings with Coalition Ministers.
I believe youth representative should have opportunities to privately discuss issues of concern and present their recommendations to all political parties, not just Howard Government Ministers.
I have raised this issue in the chamber and in Senate Estimates Committees. I wrote to Minister Kemp requesting opportunities for private meetings last year and again in February. On both occasions my correspondence has been ignored, along with my proposition to give young people access to broad political views and private meeting with non-government members.
Informal conversations during lunch breaks are no replacement.
Dr Kemp has to date refused to allow members of the Opposition opportunities for private meetings.
Based on Mr Howard’s comments this morning, I look forward to Dr Kemp answering my correspondence and inviting the Labor Opposition to meet privately with all members of the National Youth Roundtable when it reconvenes next month.
I trust the Prime Minister has not deliberately mislead young people, but has fallen in the gap somewhere between Minister Kemp’s rhetoric about Roundtable and what has actually been happening with the program.
80/01. Media Contact: Simon Tatz on 02 62773334 or 0418 488295 Youth Affairs contact: Verity Newnham 0419 474 588
Grassroots and community-based sports organisations are suffering as a result of Jackie Kelly’s decision to axe the three-year Sport and Recreation Development Grants program after just one year, the Shadow Minister for Sport, Senator Kate Lundy, said today.
“The Coalition’s cuts to regional sport are mean, tricky and totally out of touch.
“They claim to have invested more money in sport, but it’s all going to the top end of town at the expense of grassroots and local sporting organisations.
“Jackie Kelly is responsible for directing the Australian Sports Commission to terminate the Sport and Recreation Development Grants program with State and Territory departments of sport and recreation.
“These grants were used to fund regional Sport Assemblies, the life blood of regional sport and recreation.
“Ironically, the Minister proudly boasts that slashing funding for community sport is part of the Howard Government’s ‘Backing Australia’s Ability’ policy!
Here’s what some regional sporting organisations have said about Kelly’s cutbacks:
(These cuts will) devastate grass roots development programs.
Leisure Networks, which operates the (Geelong-based) regional sports assembly has lost 40 per cent of its income as a result of the cuts…the 20,000 shortfall left (Leisure Networks) with no other option but to abandon long-established grassroots programs.
The Federal Government has gone for elite athletes rather than grass roots. In our view this is ridiculous because you need to have grass roots athletes before you have elite ones.
Without sufficient funding support…many of the hundreds of programs that are delivered statewide will be cut.
We are aware of the implication of this funding short fall and will have to reduce staffing, projects and office hours in order to maintain current obligations.
The group most likely to miss out is regional WA. What it means is that we won’t be able to provide coaching courses that we run…volunteer initiatives and the club administration development that we are providing throughout rural WA.
The Federal Government will redirect…$660,000 away from community-based sporting groups to elite sport. (This is) a callous act.
The functioning of Sports Assemblies will be severely reduced without these funds, ultimately impacting on the sport participation opportunities in many communities across Victoria.
Funding cuts to Regional Sports Assemblies of up to 50 per cent have been implemented, resulting in cutbacks to programs at the grass roots level. Programs like water safety week and sport focus week have been cut, because there is no project officer or buses for the program.
There is no choice for Sports Focus but to downgrade or cut some programs…in the areas surrounding Active Australia development, education and training, and the face-to-face work with sport and recreation clubs.
“It’s obvious this Minister is completely out of touch with what’s happening at the community sport level,” Senator Lundy said.
79/01.. Media contact: Simon Tatz on 02 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
A motion passed in the Senate today noted that the cancellation of coverage of women basketball and netball on the ABC would have a detrimental effect on women’s sport.
The joint motion, moved by Senator Kate Lundy, Labor’s Shadow Minister for Sport, and Senator Meg Lees, the Democrats spokesperson for Sport, was in response to reports that the ABC is considering cutting its television coverage of netball and basketball, two of the most popular female sports in Australia.
The motion noted that cancellation of coverage of women’s sport would impact on participation rates, especially amongst adolescent girls and reduce the talent pool and viability of women’s netball and basketball.
There is a critical link between coverage and sponsorship, as well as between sponsorship and the development and promotion of a sport; therefore to abandon or reduce the broadcasting of matches will directly impact on the viability of the sport.
Promotion and coverage of women’s sports, especially women’s netball and basketball, is essential because of the interest to the players, their families and in promoting continued participation in our highest participation sports.
A reduction in coverage of women’s sport would also defy the recommendations of An Illusory Image, A Report on the Media Coverage and Portrayal of Women’s Sport in Australia, by Dr Murray Phillips, which was launched by the Coalition in 1996.
This significant report also called on the government to promote women’s sport through major awards.
In response, however, the Howard Government axed the Prime Minister’s Women in Sport Award, cut funding to Womensport Australia and downgraded the Women in Sport unit at the Australian Sports Commission.
The Howard Government has a responsibility to ensure that women’s sport is accorded appropriate media coverage and I call on them to fulfil their promised and raise the profile of women’s sport by adopting the recommendation contained in the report they launched in 1996.
78/01. Media Contact: Simon Tatz on 02 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
Young people perceive themselves as having been the biggest losers under the Howard Government, Senator Lundy said in a speech to the Senate this week.
“Young Australians have been disproportionately hurt by the Howard Government's mean and ruthless five-year policy agenda, which has seen funding slashed to many of the services provided for those young people most in need,” Senator Lundy said.
“Young people have told me that, more often than not, they see the Howard Government favouring the big end of town.
“Many young people have experienced first-hand the effects of Coalition blowtorches applied to key areas of youth concern; including income support, education, labour market programs, health programs and the environment.
“Unlike Labor, the Howard Government has continually failed to understand that communities are stronger and more cohesive when all members are included, recognised and feel able to participate in the life and decisions of the community.
“The message I’m hearing is that young people are seeking from public office holders the very things they perceive Mr Howard to be most lacking in - that is, they value vision and strong leadership in areas such as education, welfare and jobs, and want to be valued and included.
“Most of all, younger Australians want to be included in both decision-making and community affairs across a wide spectrum of issues.
“Under the Howard Government, many young people feel alienated from their community and the political processes of the wider society and see an urgent need for policy makers to remove barriers and create opportunities for greater youth participation in society.
“The Coalition’s defunding of the national youth peak body, AYPAC, and the lack of action on National Youth Roundtable recommendations, has had a detrimental effect on how young people see themselves valued by Government.
“By contrast, a Beazley government will listen to, and take into consideration, the views of young Australians. It is Labor who has provided the vision and commitment to invest in their future by developing Australia as a Knowledge Nation.
“I urge my parliamentary colleagues to consult with young people in their electorates and use those experiences to inform them and see how young people are faring in their own backyards,” Senator Kate Lundy concluded.
77/01. . Media Contact: Simon Tatz on 02 62773334 or 0418 488295
Kate Lundy has represented the ACT since March 1996. Kate is the Shadow Minister for Sport and Youth Affairs, and the Shadow Minister Assisting on Information Technology. Kate is an active member of several Parliamentary Committees, including the Senate Committees on Finance, Public Administration, Environment, Communications Information Technology and the Arts. She is also a member of the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories and the Presiding Officers’ Information Technology Advisory Committee.
In 2000 Kim Beazley appointed Kate Lundy to the Labor Party’s Knowledge Nation Taskforce, which reported in July 2001.
Kate and her partner David live in North Canberra and have a blended family of two girls and three boys.
Labor's second Senate candidate in the ACT, Robin Poke, is a former Canberra television and radio journalist. Robin has lived in Canberra for 20 years. He was the first news editor at SBS. At Capital Television he headed the sports department, reported rugby and soccer and established the ACT Sportstar awards. Robin has also reported on international rowing events for ABC Radio and been a contributing journalist with the Canberra Times. At the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games he held senior media positions with the Australian team and is now Secretary of the Olympians’ Club of the ACT. Commonwealth Government agencies for which Robin has worked include the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, where he was involved in several major search and rescue operations. He is now head of corporate communication at the University of Canberra (UC). Robin has a Bachelor of Communication degree from UC and is undertaking a Masters degree with a view a to one day completing a PhD. He also tutors in journalism.
Robin and his wife Lesley live in Hughes and have three daughters.
76/01 Media Contact: Simon Tatz on 02 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
ACT Senator Kate Lundy told the senate last night that lack of childcare facilities in Parliament House is a major problem for working families.
Senator Lundy, who recently gave birth to her third child, said the debate about the provision of childcare at Parliament House dated back to 1981.
“Each time that a decision to provide child care has been made, someone has found a way to stall or block it,” Senator Lundy told the Senate.
“In the 1980s, while the battle for work-based childcare in the larger government departments and workplaces was being won, planning for the new and permanent Parliament House - this building - was well underway.
“The design brief for the New and Permanent Parliament House did not include childcare provision, but from the outset this omission was questioned and received adverse press coverage.
“In 1981, only 14 of the Federal parliamentarians were women. The profile of the typical parliamentarian was an anglo-saxon male of late middle age. Yet even from 1981 the need for a child care facility was accepted. The big question was where.
“That year, the Joint Standing Committee on the New Parliament House Committee requested the Parliament House Construction Authority to set aside a suitable area ‘in the surrounding landscaping’ for a possible childcare facility. In August 1985 the Joint Standing Committee appointed a sub-committee to examine the need for childcare facilities in the grounds of the new Parliament House. Pressure in support of the childcare facility was maintained, with many questioning the judgment of those whose priorities included tennis courts, sauna, gymnasium, swimming pool and so on, instead of childcare which could be used also by staff and visitors.
“In March 1989, the JSC on the New Parliament House presented a Report Relating to a Community Based Child Care Centre in the Parliamentary Zone which recommended approval of the establishment of a community based childcare centre adjacent to the provisional Parliament House.
“A dissenting minority report, from Senator Michael Baume, Senator Margaret Reid, and two others from the Coalition, agreed that there was need for a childcare centre in or near the Parliamentary Zone, but objected on ‘heritage grounds’ to its siting ‘adjacent to the old Parliament House’.
“Senator Newman too, registered her objection to this plan, saying that funding should first be found for much-needed childcare for Defence personnel in centres other than Canberra.
“When the second report of the Joint Standing Committee on the New Parliament House, approving the location and site plans for the new child care centre, was presented in December 1989, Senator Reid and Senator Michael Baume again added a dissenting report, this time joined by Senator Vanstone and Michael Mackellar. Their dissent was on the grounds that the House of Representatives garden should be restored as nearly as possible to the original layout and condition, and that the childcare centre would be better placed outside the Parliamentary Triangle. This was despite the fact that the plans made it clear that the centre would have been sited in a far corner of the House of Representatives garden, in the area of the ugly squash courts building.
“I have to say that this whole area now appears sadly neglected; the unsightly brick shed and squash court building remain; the tennis courts are overgrown and dilapidated. Why have the proponents of this ‘heritage’ area been so silent since defeating the childcare proposal?
“Despite the blocking of the childcare centre in 1989, the need for childcare for both workers and parliamentarians in this building will only continue to grow.
“A room has been set up in Parliament House as a family lounge, for the use of families of Members and Senators only. The key to this is available on request. Apparently funding of $40,000 was included in a capital works budget in the 90s for a children’s playground to be set up outside the family lounge but, again, this has not eventuated.
“In any case these proposals are totally inadequate and ignore the needs of the young children of the people who work in parliament house.
“Progressive surveys over two decades have indicated that there are more than enough potential users of a childcare facility here to make it viable. More surveys are planned. Quite recently a preliminary survey, Childcare Request for Information, was circulated to seek staff profile information from Personnel sections and supervisors. A follow-up staff survey is planned. We ask that these be used as a basis for action.
“I wish to acknowledge the work and commitment of Senator Crossin who has convened a cross-party committee to raise again the issue of childcare for the workers of parliament house and for parliamentarians. I urge Senators to support Senator Crossin and the committee in their negotiations with the Joint House Department and the Presiding Officers.
“We are not asking for special privileges here. We expect that such a facility would be based on user-pays principles, with the parliamentary departments as the designated employers providing the work-based childcare.
“Of course we realise that many reasons will be advanced as to why our proposals for childcare provision within parliament house would not be possible. But it is, of course, possible. We have identified little-used areas, spacious enough for a child care facility, which could be used in this building.
“The demand will not go away; it will only increase. All that is needed is the political will to achieve this most basic of worker entitlements,” Senator Lundy concluded.
75/01. . Media Contact: Simon Tatz on 02 62773334 or 0418 488295
A decision by Federal Sports Minister Jackie Kelly to axe the Sport and Recreation Development Grants program has been roundly criticised by state and territory sports ministers at the Sport and Recreation Ministers Council meeting today.
NSW Sport and Recreation Minister John Watkins is reported to be joining sports ministers from Victoria and Western Australia in conveying their resentment at the Howard Government's decision to withdraw funding for the important community-based sport development program.
Minister Kelly recently directed the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) to terminate contracts with State and Territory departments of sport and recreation as part of the Coalition’s ‘Backing Australia’s Sporting Ability’ program.
“These grants were the lifeblood of regional and community-based sporting organisations,” the Shadow Minister for Sport, Senator Lundy, said.
“Until Minister Kelly took the axe to community sport, grant funding was used to train coaches, volunteers and administrators and keep community sport programs operational,” Senator Lundy said.
The criticism of Minister Kelly and the Coalition’s sporting policy, which favour elite sport at the expense of regional and community sport, has been widespread.
| Albany MLA Peter Watson described the decision to cut the Sport and
Recreation Development Grants program, which provided almost $1 million for
training programs for community-based sporting organisations in West
Australia as “a callous act.” |
| GippSport, which provides community-sporting programs in the Gippsland
region, has already cut staff and reduced programs as a result of Minister
Kelly’s short-sighted decision. GippSport have been forced to axe
water safety week and sport focus week. |
| Leisure Networks, which operates Geelong-based sporting programs, has lost 40 % of its income as a result of the Coalition’s policies. Lindsay Drummond, the management committee chair, stated that they faced a $20,000 shortfall and had no option but to abandon long-established grassroots programs. |
“The Howard Government is robbing communities of essential sporting and recreational opportunities,” Senator Lundy said.
74/01. Media contact: Simon Tatz on 02 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
The survival of community sporting clubs is being endangered by the GST, with increased costs and GST administration responsible for a massive decline in membership and volunteers, the Shadow Minister for Sport, Senator Lundy, said today.
“The overwhelming view from community sporting organisations is that the GST has resulted in decreased membership and a loss of volunteers,” Senator Lundy said.
The chief executive officer of Vicsport, Julie Sarll, confirmed that hundreds of community-based sporting organisations are losing members and volunteer administrators/treasures because of the extra workload imposed by the GST.
It’s killing them. Compliance cost in terms of the GST is a huge time cost for the volunteers and they’re just not willing to do it. They’re not willing to be a tax collector for the government.
(Julie Sarll, the Age, 5/8/01)
“There are numerous reports that non-profit sporting club treasurers and administrators are resigning because of the stress associated with implementing the GST, particularly the Business Activity Statement (BAS),” Senator Lundy said.
“In many cases, grassroots organisations and local clubs do not have the resources to collect and claim GST. Consequently, membership and other costs are increased, which leads to a decline in membership and participation.
“It is appalling that, in the International Year of the Volunteer, the Howard Government’s GST is responsible for a massive decline in volunteers and the ruination of community sporting clubs,” Senator Lundy said.
73/01.. Media contact: Simon Tatz on 02 6277 3334 or 0418 488295
A report by the National Office of the Information Economy (NOIE) cites lack of resources and cost as major impediments to increasing government online service delivery.
Releasing the third Government Online survey yesterday, the Coalition admitted that it would not meet its commitments for online service delivery.
Senator Ian Campbell, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Information Technology, admitted: “a small number of agencies are finding some elements of the Government Online Strategy challenging.”
The NOIE report revealed that:
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Only 17% of government agencies reported that all their appropriate services were already online. |
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A third of all agencies (33%) reported that less than 30% of their total services would be online. |
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The most common barrier to online service deliver was cost/lack of resources (36%), with lack of client access/acceptance to the Internet cited as a barrier by 16% of respondents. |
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Rural and regional Australia were severely disadvantaged, with just 11% of current services identifies specifically targeted at regional/rural Australia and only 25% of future services targeted at regional Australia. |
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Less than half of all agencies reported that their websites met the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. |
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The major barriers to meeting Web Content Accessibility guidelines were lack of resources and lack of IT skills. |
“The Coalition has failed to ensure sufficient resources are available to government departments and agencies to provide an appropriate standard of online service delivery,” Senator Lundy, the Shadow Minister Assisting on IT, said today.
“The obvious conclusion is that the Coalition’s mishandling of the IT Outsourcing program and the resulting budget pressure this has brought is a major factor in their failure to fulfil online service delivery commitments.
“NOIE neglected to note this important feature in their report.
“In 1997, when Mr Howard launched Investing for Growth, he promised to “facilitate access to the information age particularly for regional and remote Australia [and to] establish an electronic one-stop shop for all business regulatory needs so that all appropriate services are deliverable on the Internet by 2001.” (National Press Club, 18/12/98)
“Another broken Coalition promise – this time to provide online services to all Australians by 2001,” Senator Lundy said.
72/01..Media contact: Simon Tatz on 02 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
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