Innovative small businesses in Canberra deserve a fair go in competing for government contracts, Senator Lundy said today following an Innovation and Procurement Forum organised in Canberra by the Churchill Club. Federal Labor’s New Directions in Innovation, Competitiveness and Productivity includes a 10-point framework to guide Federal Labor’s approach to building a more innovative, more [...]
business
ICT Small Businesses strike back against discrimination and red tape
All of the small business representatives on a government committee set up to remove barriers to government contracts for small IT businesses have broken ranks and delivered an unprecedented independent report to Minister for IT, Senator Coonan. This independent report differs dramatically from the sanitised report that is the ‘official’ conclusion of the ICT [...]
Manufacturing Forgotten in the Budget
The Howard Government has squandered an ideal opportunity to strengthen Australian manufacturing to drive future productivity gains and exports. The manufacturing sector urgently needs support to boost skills training, encourage innovation, modernise transport infrastructure and build export markets. The Government has not adequately addressed any of these pressing priorities in the budget. Most [...]
Gungahlin telephony moves from backwater to average
While Telstra’s announcement of a new Telecommunication Exchange to be built at the Gungahlin Town Centre is welcomed, it should not be forgotten that this means Gungahlin residents are only moving from a broadband backwater to being able to access services that are available in most other metropolitan areas in Australia. This is a step [...]
Coalition’s response to two-year-old report means nothing for IT small businesses
Australian ICT small businesses seeking access to Federal Government contracts continue to be ignored, despite the Howard Government notionally supporting a recommendation from a Senate Committee to remove barriers that hamper their participation. Almost two years after it was handed down, the Coalition today finally tabled its response to the Senate Finance and Public Administration [...]
Alston abandons small business
The Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) allowed numerous breaches of government IT outsourcing contracts, leaving small business in the IT Industry out to dry, a Senate Estimates hearing was told. Under questioning, it became clear that it has been over four months since the DCITA learned that Health Department IT outsourcer, [...]
Coalition vague on ICT procurement assistance for SMEs
The Coalition has paid only lip-service to small to medium enterprise (SME) concerns about Australian industry development in a recent announcement about information and communications technology (ICT) outsourcing arrangements, the Shadow Minister for Information Technology, Senator Kate Lundy, said today. “Labor is looking for a genuine commitment from the Coalition to create real opportunities for [...]
Business and academic leaders have little confidence in Coalition
Sheer frustration at the Howard Government’s mismanagement of technological innovation and IT policy has led business and university leaders to publicly urge the Coalition to act on reports from its chief scientist and the Innovation Summit Implementation Group, the Shadow Minister Assisting on Information Technology, Senator Kate Lundy, said today. In a letter published in [...]
Australian Entrepreneurs win Global Entrepreneur Challenge
Four University of Sydney students have shown the world that Australians have entrepreneurial the equal of – if not better than – the best in the world by taking out an international entrepreneurial prize in the heart of Silicon Valley, Senator Kate Lundy said. Sydney Worldwide, Ltd. won the inaugural Stanford University Global Entrepreneurship Challenge [...]
Liberals have little to offer ACT Small Business
Senator Lundy was today critical of the Federal Government’s commitment to small business saying it was a shame that Liberal Government’s policies for small business wasn’t stronger on substance and lighter on rhetoric. “Geoff Prosser, Minister for Small Business, is addressing a seminar in Canberra today designed to increase the skills of small business operators. [...]
