[LINK] PM "knowledge and ICT skills more important than minerals"

[tomk]

On 6/10/2012 8:45 p.m., stephen at melbpc.org.au wrote:
> Prime Minister Julia Gillard says knowledge and technology skills will
> be worth more to Australia than mineral resources in the 21st century.

The Prime Minister is doubtless correct.

However the interesting part of the article appeared - This chap  is may 
be the only Public Servant in Australia that actually knows and 
understands what is going on....
>
> Australia Post CEO Ahmed Fahour said the government-owned enterprise was
> embracing technology to offer new services to customers.
>
> "I believe that if anybody is going to cannibalise Australia Post that
> ought to be ourselves and allow ourselves the benefit of actually moving
> into the new world," Mr Fahour said.
>
> Mr Fahour said the postal agency would launch a digital mailbox service
> later this month.
>
> He said it would open a series of collection outlets across Australia to
> be in operation around the clock..
>
> Ms Gillard said the forum emphasised the need to address a shortage of
> skilled ICT workers, such as software engineers.
I think it is more likely that we need plumbers, machine fitters, 
turners, boilermakers, mechanics, farmers (and not the mechanised type), 
factory workers.

If we create a whole pile of software engineers, just who the hell is  
going to hire them ?
Did anyone talk about that ?
How about the fifty year olds that are put straight on the pension 
because they are too old to be employed ?

Given that Universities are cutting back, apart from IBM and Australia 
Post, just who is hiring Software engineers ? (And IBM is only hiring 
from India and other low cost labour regimes... They are certainly not 
interested in paying Australian scale wages to the bulk of their 
workforce. i.e.: the actual code monkeys that DO the ICT stuff. )

What Australian company needs all those ICT people ?

To even include his (Ahmed Fahour) entrepreneurial approach to moving 
Aus post forward in the same blather as tired old 78 recordings of 
politicians stuck in the ICT/ICT/ICT groove...... is sad and detracts 
from what could have been a brilliant article about change finally 
arriving in Government. i.e.: forget the rule book - Let's give the 
public what they really want... before our competitors do.

One can only hope that the Digital Mail Box service will be programmed 
in Australia by Australian trained and qualified ICT persons.
Somehow, unfortunately, with cut-backs, profit motivation, I don't think 
so.

What Julia should be doing is giving Australian companies that develop 
in Australia with 100% Australian trained staff a 30% preference on all 
government contracts and a 20% tax break.

Now that would both get ICT going again and open up Australia to all 
kind of foreign investment.

TomK