Australia divided on IT offshoring issue

Australian trade minister Mark Vaile and communications and IT minister Helen Coonan recently issued statements supporting offshore outsourcing.

The Australian Prime Minister refrained from commenting on these statements.

Last July, industry analyst Gartner pointed out that "Australia is in the unique position of offering skills for higher-level or management-related onshoring tasks, but the government is doing nothing to capitalise on the skilled IT workforce, quality of life and proximity to South East Asia."

A spokesperson for Coonan supported this observation by declaring that there are opportunities for Australia to develop and market its homegrown industries while opening its doors to foreign trade.

The spokesperson mentioned a recent KPMG 2004 Competitive Alternatives Study, which ranked Australia as "the best place in the developed world to base software development operations."

There have been previous debates about the practicality of offshoring for the country. Australian businesses are interested in pursuing offshoring alternatives, but efforts to offshore are being met with considerable resistance.

Earlier this year, Australian labor unions spoke out against offshore outsourcing.

Gartner senior vice-president Bob Hayward said that "if Australia was not seen as a destination for offshoring, IT services could ultimately suffer, with the result that there would be no strong, indigenous IT base."

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