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31 May 2004 - Media ReleaseLabor joins ACS's call for action on IT off-shoringLabor welcomes the Australian Computer Society's (ACS) Policy Statement on Off-shoring, which was released today. The ACS is calling for the Federal Government to take action against an increasing trend in off-shoring Australian IT jobs. The Howard Government has treated the ICT sector with contempt and supports the off-shoring of Australian ICT jobs, recently demonstrated by the Howard Governments defence of Telstra's decision to send Australian jobs overseas. ICT unemployment is unacceptably high, and the Howard Government’s endorsement of off-shoring is irresponsible and fails to acknowledge the potential of ICT in Australia. In contrast, Labor's National Conference moved the following resolution earlier this year:
Labor shares the Australian Computer Society’s concern that there is lot of hype and unfounded claims associated with the cost benefits of ICT off-shoring. Therefore Labor supports the ACS checklist as a first step in preventing ill-informed decisions to off-shore Australian IT jobs. Labor believes that, if given the opportunity, Australian IT professionals will be able to satisfy the skill demands of companies in Australia operating in a globally competitive environment. Labor is pleased to join the ACS who, on behalf of IT professionals, has called upon the Howard Government to immediately adopt the ACS Off-shoring Cost-Benefit Checklist. In endorsing this approach, Labor believes that this Checklist, if applied diligently, will demonstrate in both the public and private sector that ICT services can be efficiently and effectively provided within Australia. Contact: Adina Cirson - (02) 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
27 May 2004 - Media ReleaseSmall to Medium Dance Sector snubbed by KempIn Estimates yesterday it was revealed that Kemp did not even bother to formally respond to written requests from the sector to provide additional recurrent funding of $5 million to the Dance Board to support community based dance organisations. This is despite receiving desperate pleas and a formal letter from over 40 company and festival directors seeking additional $5 million in this year’s budget to prevent “further haemorrhage by the sector”. The situation is ludicrous. Grassroots arts organisations and community arts communities are the long suffering victims of the Howard Government’s under-funding and receive no additional money. In contrast organisations and their heavy weight political connections secure large grants without the Minister batting an eyelid. Contact: Adina Cirson - (02) 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
26 May 2004 - Media ReleaseKemp asserts control over the Australia CouncilArts Minister Rod Kemp has given an unprecedented funding instructions to the Australia Council to allocate half of the additional funding received in the Budget to a single recipient – The Melba Foundation for the promotion of Australian operatic performers through its record label – Melba Records. It was revealed in Senate Estimates today that this organisation did not even make an application to the Australia Council and the Minister did not consult the Australia Council on whether $5 million worth of funding should in fact be of benefit to the music industry. Whilst this project may be meritorious, the Minister was not able to identify the process by which its merits were assessed. The Minister also refused to say whether he has been instructed by the Treasurer to grant the funding to the Melba Foundation and became extremely defensive when questioned about the rationale behind the decision, resorting to testimonial from supporters of the Melba Foundation. This situation raises serious questions about the Minister chose to instruct the Australia Council to allocate funds to an individual organisation, particularly when the Minister has the means of doing this through the Arts Department’s Cultural Development Program. While Labor is of course supportive of increased funding to the Arts, it is noteworthy that the Music Board of the Australia Council only receives approximately $3.5 million to make available to the music sector, making this grant look disproportionately generous in the context of the offer of funding for music generally. Ironically, only half of the allocated $10 million over 5 years has been allocated to the Small to Medium arts organisation sector – and this must be shared in order to assist in the expansion of international markets for Australian Artists. The compromising situation that the Australia Council has been placed in is unacceptable and threatens the very integrity and arms- length independence that embodies the Australia Council’s charter. This is yet another Howard Government attack on the independence of cultural independence in Australia. Contact: Adina Cirson - (02) 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
20 May 2004 - Media ReleaseLabor, Gungahlin, Dunlop residents force communications improvementsOver the last two years, Labor's federal and local representatives have worked closely with the Gungahlin and West Belconnen communities to put pressure on telecommunications carriers to deliver better mobile phone and broadband communications services. Today, some progress seems to have been made with Chief Minister John Stanhope opening a new exchange in Gungahlin. However, just how much difference this will make to many frustrated residents remains to be seen. Telstra claims that the new exchange will meet the forecast demand for ADSL services as the suburbs grow. But it is unclear the extent of the new exchange's reach, particularly into the newer areas of Gungahlin. I urge residents to make inquiries through all carriers offering ADSL services to see if they are able to purchase a broadband service. I have requested the details of the extent of the new infrastructure and urge Telstra to make the details public, so people can make informed decisions on their housing investment based on the availability of broadband services. For many home-based businesses, students and researchers, the availability of broadband services is essential. Many other areas in Canberra and the surrounding region are still unable to get broadband services so Labor will continue to pressure communications carriers to invest in broadband infrastructure. Contact: Kate Roffey - (02) 6277 3334 or 0411 969 364
17 May 2004 - Media ReleaseKemp’s contempt for Arts and Sport
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 | Not provided any significant increase to funding in 2004 for any section of the cultural sector. |
| Cut nearly $8 million from our National Cultural Institutions in 2003 and with it 31 jobs. |
| Sat by and watched community–based dance organisations suffering in a pattern of under funding |
| Done nothing to address the decline Australian feature film production which has plunged by one-third in 2002-03 down to just 19 feature films produced from 31 in 2001-2002 |
| Taken no steps to address Artists welfare when one third of Australian artists are living in poverty, with 50% of them earning a mere $7,300 a year from their profession |
| Taken 7 years to increase funding to Playing Australia Program funding despite desperate pleas from the major performing arts centres and Regional Arts Australia, which has resulted in fewer opportunities for artists to take their works to regional, rural and remote Australia |
In sport the picture is just as bleak.
| The Howard Government's own budget papers reveal that federal funding for Sport and Recreation has been slashed from $206 million in 2003-04 to $169 million in 2004-05. |
| While Minister Kemp has tried to hoodwink Australians into believing that sport has received a funding boost courtesy of a $273 million investment in the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games, the truth is that sport and recreation has actually suffered a $37 million funding cut. |
| None of the money committed to M2006 will go towards providing direct assistance for athletes who will compete in Melbourne in 2006, in fact virtually none of this money will go to sport at all. |
| The so called $273 million investment in the Commonwealth Games will go to the Department of Defence, Attorney-Generals Department, the Australian Federal Police, the Department of Transport and Regional Services, the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, and ASIO; everywhere it would seem but to sport. |
| Even the $55.3m so called ASC funding from all areas for the 16 sports on the Games program is set to be spent on AIS operations rather than athletes. |
The only thing that the 2004 Budget has proven is the Howard Government’s blatant contempt for the valuable contribution Arts and Sport make to our cultural and social fabric.
Contact: Adina Cirson - (02) 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
The Howard Government has spent $3 million over the weekend funding full page political advertisements across the nation – one of which in the Canberra Times, claimed the Howard Government is supporting the Australian Capital Territory.
The political advertisements were a waste of taxpayer dollars and form part of a $750 million taxpayer funded political campaign – apparently needed to inform people about services in the ACT funded by the Howard Government.
These ads were also misleading: out of the 6 photos which appeared at least half of them were not taken in Canberra and were exactly the same as the ads which appeared in NSW papers.
It’s obvious John Howard does not have a clue about Canberra: we don’t actually have a train network in Canberra – and the trains which do come to Canberra for interstate travel – are in fact funded by the NSW Labor Government.
Another example of the misleading nature of the advertisements was the funding for ACT Schools.
The ads cited that the Howard Government was providing more funds for schools and that it was providing $152 million for Education. What the advertisement didn’t say was that ACT public schools only receive $34 million of this, compared to the $90 million given to the already over-resourced private schools. The other $30 million included in this figure is not even spent on our schools – and is actually a total figure for training and new apprenticeships as well.
This means that the Howard Government spends around $800 per public high school student, compared with funding for a Canberra Grammar student at around $1700 – demonstrating the Howard Government’s bias for private schools and its neglect of the public school system.
Spending $3 million of taxpayer money to fund what is clearly a misconceived and blatantly wrong depiction of federal funding to the ACT in an attempt to win votes is nothing short of a disgrace.
I urge Canberrans to remember every time they see a Howard Government ad that John Howard doesn’t live here, treats Canberra with contempt and that Gary Humphries is merely his local mouthpiece. Obviously they think Canberrans are stupid enough to be conned by these insulting ads.
Contact: Adina Cirson - 0418 488 295 or 02 6277 3334
The community-building capacity of public internet access received another blow under the Howard Governments budget with no recognition for the need for public internet access services to being maintained, particularly in rural and regional Australia.
The Howard Government is content to let the corporate knowledge and experience of many committed people built up over the years in community internet access projects just evaporate overnight.
Although many of the projects funded under the Networking the Nation were ad hoc and unfocussed, there was an opportunity for the Howard Government to rectify this and invest in public internet access, including de-linking the funding with the proceeds from the sale of Telstra.
However, in a spiteful exercise, the Howard Government has thumbed its nose at these programs, leaving no alternative other than many of these centres to close in the future.
For many Australians, with still more than 40% not having internet access at home, this means being cut off from government services online, financial services, community information and potential e-learning opportunities.
This proves that the Howard Government's commitment to public internet access and connectivity generally has been wholly and solely linked to a Telstra sale bribe.
Contact: Adina Cirson - 0418 488 295 or 02 6277 3334
John Howard's local Canberra mouth-piece has even more egg on his face with the Federal Budget doing very little for very few. This budget is about satisfying John Howard’s political needs, not the needs of ordinary Australians – and certainly not Canberrans.
The truth about the 2004 Federal Budget is that:
| Around 75 per cent of all taxpayers in the ACT receive less than $52,000 p.a. and therefore will not receive one cent from the Howard Government’s tax cuts |
| Only 28 per cent of all Canberra families will receive the family tax
benefit relief. (of 83,100 families in the ACT, only 23,666 are eligible for Family Tax Benefit Part A) |
| Around one – third of those recipients of Family Tax Benefit Part A – approximately 7, 500 Canberra families - get family payment debts or will continue to receive debts which potentially negate any benefit derived from Family Tax Benefit relief. |
| It brings no relief for the thousands of Australian families unable to access quality, affordable centre based long day care for their children aged 0-5. |
| The Howard Government has failed to provide any additional funding for our public health system, refused to accept any responsibility for Australians Dental or Mental Health and has not provided any substantial increases for running of our schools |
| Has not provided any funding for the Defence Headquarters Complex at Bungendore – Despite Senator Humphries talking it up |
| Does not provide Special Revenue Assistance for the ACT beyond 2004-05 or for National Competition Payments after 2005-06 which will result in a $16 million hole in the ACT budget |
| While providing $9.9 million to the National Library, last years budget stripped nearly $8 million and 31 jobs from the National Archives, Gallery and Library. |
| No additional funding for the rebuilding of Mt Stromlo after short-changing it by approximately $8 million in 2003-04 Budget. |
| Despite hypocritical reassurances that no money would be cut from the National Office of Information Economy it appears that one-third of funding has gone missing from the budget of the agency formally known as NOIE. |
This Federal Budget is all bad news for Canberra, and leaves Australia with a new class of forgotten people. After 8 years with John Howard, the best he can offer up is a pre-election spending spree. The Howard Government has no plan for Australia, and Senator Humphries has no plan for Canberra – just a plan for their own re-election.
Contact: Adina Cirson - 0418 488 295 or 02 6277 3334
The Howard Government’s 2004 Budget has not delivered a single new initiative in the Arts, choosing instead to refund and redeliver existing programs and ignore many of the systemic problems facing the sector.
While Labor welcomes the extension of the Educational Lending Rights Scheme, the Art Indemnity programme, and the Regional Arts fund, the Howard Government has left the increase of funding to the Playing Australia Program well short of expectations.
After 7 years of doing nothing, the Howard Government has only provided $2 million extra to the program – the only program which ensures that regional and rural Australia have access to Australia’s best performing Arts through provision of grants for costs associated with touring to these areas.
Because Playing Australia funding has not been increased since 1997, there has been intense lobbying from the sector and the community for a doubling of the program which would have brought the figure closer to $7.3 million.
Provision of extra funding to the National Library of Australia – at $9.9 million over four years is welcomed, this so called ‘increase’ is set against nearly $8 million worth of cuts to our National Institutions in last years budget, resulting in 31 job losses.
The Howard Government has not provided any significant increase to funding for any section of the cultural sector, which includes our National Cultural Institutions and the Film and Television Sector.
With one third of practising Australian Artists living in poverty, unable to earn a living wage from their profession, and an already struggling Film and Television industry which is facing an uncertain future in the wake of the Australian United States Free Trade Agreement, the arts sector has very little to be happy about in this budget.
The Howard Government has failed to deliver any glimmer of hope or vision for Australia’s cultural future and the valuable contribution made by Australian Artists to our cultural and social fabric has once again been blatantly disregarded.
Contact: Adina Cirson - (02) 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
In a dismal performance the Howard Government has ensured that every Australian, from elite athlete to weekend walker, has been overlooked in this year's sports budget.
According to budget figures released last night, the Government has committed $273 million to the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games, and $0.00 to grass roots development and participation.
Last year the ASC spoke out regarding concerns that the impact that the Howard Governments ongoing funding cuts to sports and recreation at the grass roots level were having on Australia's potential to turn out elite sports people.
Minister Kemp, on behalf of the Howard Government promised to take steps to bring about change. The fact however that not one extra cent has been committed to grassroots development and participation in sport and recreation in this budget clearly highlights the Government's absolute lack of concern for sport development and participation.
While it is nothing new for the Howard Government to ignore grassroots sport, in this years budget elite sport has missed out as well.
If Minister Kemp's propaganda is to be believed, the Howard Government has made a massive commitment to improving sport in Australia via its $273 million investment in the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.
What Minister Kemp failed to mention is that none of this money will go toward providing direct assistance for the athletes who will be competing in Melbourne in 2006, many of whom come from sports who receive no funding support from any other source.
In fact this money is going to the Department of Defence, Attorney-Generals Department, the Australian Federal Police, the Department of Transport and Regional Services, the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, and ASIO. To every portfolio it seems, but sport.
Even the $55.3m so called ASC funding from all areas for the 16 sports on the Games program is set to be spent on AIS operations rather than athletes.
Contact: Kate Roffey - (02) 6277 3334 or 0411 969 364
The Howard Government has taken over 12 months to commit to the future funding of the newly named ICT Incubators and Advance Networks Programs, (formerly Building on IT Strengths) and for many of the Incubators it may be too little too late.
Labor and the ICT sector have been pushing for continuation of the funding for the BITS incubator program because of the crucial role it plays in the growth of Australia’s ICT industry.
In late 2003 the uncertainty of future government funding posed a serious threat to the sustainability of these Incubators, and Labor knows that this delay has meant constraints in the activities of many Incubators and in some cases has seen their doors close.
These ICT Incubators have already proven to be of great value to the Australian economy by addressing the market failure in Australia’s innovation cycle - that is, the provision of capital and business acumen to early stage technology companies.
While Labor welcomes the extension of the Incubators – which According to an independent report by Econtech released last year - has generated over 757 jobs since its inception. It is disgraceful that it has taken so long for the Government to commit to the funding of such an important program.
Labor is analysing the detail of this announcement and will ensure that every opportunity is taken at the upcoming Senate Estimates to further examine these issues.
Contact: Adina Cirson - (02) 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
The Howard Government IT Minister has fallen hook, line and sinker for the big end of town’s misguided campaign to send Australian IT jobs offshore.
Referring to a recent survey performed by the ironically named Australian Information Industries Association (AIIA), the Minister argues that sending IT jobs offshore to other countries is good for Australia and presents opportunities.
Unfortunately the Minster must have taken the AIIA and their large corporate member’s word for it, because the survey actually reveals a deep seated mistrust for offshore outsourcing, with 66% of respondents favouring local providers.
I have written to the AIIA in order to clarify their stand on these issues as the Minister has clearly interpreted this survey as being supportive of offshoring. (see below)
Clearly the survey results show the opposite.
The Howard Government has once again demonstrated that it favours Australian jobs going offshore, and has a blatant disregard for the importance of investment in Australian industry.
Contact: Adina Cirson - (02) 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
Mr John Price
Chairman – AIIA
POBox 246
Deakin West ACT 2600
FAX: 6285 1408
CC: Rob Durie, Chief Executive Officer and AIIA Board Directors
5 May 2004
Dear Chairman and AIIA Board Directors
I am writing to you to query the conclusions reached by the AIIA as a result of a recent survey conducted with 100 companies and government departments regarding the issue of Australian IT jobs going offshore.
The public statement issued by Rob Durie clearly frames the results for the survey in a positive light, despite the responses being overwhelmingly negative and states: “The phenomenon of offshore outsourcing of IT projects is still in its early stages in Australia.”
This implies that the AIIA is anticipating offshore outsourcing to increase substantially, if so I ask this question: Is the AIIA campaigning to promote offshoring in Australia?
Later in the press release it states: “65% of those who have used the offshore option say they did so to receive quality work.”
Again I am concerned that this puts the best possible light on the survey results. For example, only 12% (ie 12 companies) had taken work offshore, and of this group, 65% (7 companies) did it to receive superior quality of work. The survey does not report on their results.
I am interested in the AIIA’s stand on this issue as the Howard Government has clearly interpreted this survey as support for offshore outsourcing.
Given my interpretation of the results is overwhelmingly negative towards offshore outsourcing, has, or does the AIIA intend to challenge the Minister on his interpretation?
Yours sincerely
Senator Kate Lundy
Shadow Minister for Sport & Recreation, the Arts and
Information Technology
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