083/06
31 August 2006

ICT Advisory Board strengthened to boost Australia’s ICT sector

The Government has strengthened its ICT advisory group to include peak business bodies to ensure the needs of ICT business users are also considered in the development of ICT priorities, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, announced today.

“The Ministerial ICT advisory group plays an important role in providing the Government with strategic advice about the development of new ICT priorities,” Senator Coonan said.

“ICT offers significant potential to further build economic growth, prosperity and quality of life for all Australians.

“Strengthening this group will ensure we identify our key areas of strength and capitalise on relevant export and trade opportunities for the effective deployment of ICT.”

The revised advisory group, chaired by Mr Steve Vamos, Managing Director of Microsoft Australia, met today to identify and develop future ICT priorities.

The group, which has a range of ICT business users as well as ICT industry and research interests, discussed priority areas such as:

• identifying sectors of the economy with the most potential for economic development;
• ensuring Australia’s ICT capability fully supports these sectors, particularly with regard to investment, research, skills and development of human capital; and
• ensuring Government and industry achieve and maintain the best ICT capability over the next five years.

“Given the productivity benefits and major role that ICT is already playing in sectors as diverse as health, mining, finance and agriculture, the Australian Government will continue to work with a wide range of industry interests to ensure these gains continue,” Senator Coonan said.

Recent research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) indicates that investment in ICT contributes more to Australia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth than any other member country included in the study. This includes the US, Japan, Canada and major European countries such as France, Germany and the UK.

A full list of the members of the Ministerial ICT advisory group is attached.

ICT Advisory Group Membership