Senator the Hon Helen Coonan Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts

Deputy Leader of the Government  in the Senate

The opening of “Googleplex” Australia

Sydney

Tuesday 16 May 2006

Thank you Kate [Vale] for that introduction.

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Googleplex in Silicon Valley and it certainly has an atmosphere that inspires creativity.

With gym equipment in the hallways, pool tables and common meeting areas and electric scooters to help employees get around the vast Silicon Valley campus, it was certainly a unique take on the modern workplace.

And so, it is very exciting to open “Googleplex” Australia, which I am sure will also inspire much creativity and innovation. It is a compliment to Australia’s ICT environment that many multinational companies are choosing to set up facilities here.

But it is a particular compliment when Google, a company of boundless ambition and innovation, sees Australia as an important part of its future. When Arthur C. Clarke said advanced technology was indistinguishable from magic, he could easily have been referring to Google.

To millions of daily users, the speed and efficiency of Google may seem like magic.

We don’t need to know how the famous Google algorithm works; we are just extremely grateful that it does. But Google works very hard to make this magic happen and as Lars [Rasmussen] just pointed out, this requires access to the best engineering talent available.

A story in today’s Economist magazine highlights just how far Google will go to recruit the best and brightest engineering talent.

Drivers stuck in traffic jams on highway 101 through Silicon Valley were captivated by an anonymous billboard that contained a mathematical riddle. Those who could solve the riddle and make it to the right website were then challenged with an even more difficult riddle.

The successful boffins who worked out this second riddle were then asked to submit their CVs to Google.

According to the company’s employees, the billboard was very ‘Googley; - a term that has come to represent so many things about the company chief among them innovation and uniqueness.

With such a passion for recruiting the best and brightest I was very pleased to hear that this was a factor in Google’s decision to build its R&D centre in Australia.

The Australian workforce is diverse, highly skilled and well-known for its culture of innovation and ingenuity. We are one of the top countries for the availability of skilled labour, IT professionals, finance skills and qualified engineers.

Lars [Rasmussen] also mentioned the tremendous talent that exists in Australia and the need for more opportunities for these talented people.

Attracting companies like Google will, in itself, generate many more opportunities for software engineers and other ICT professionals. But industry needs to help create opportunity and interest in ICT professions.

Google sets a great example by working closely with our top universities on the Google Australia Summer Internship program.

This program will provide interns with exposure to real life projects and will allow them to experience Google culture.

After experiencing first hand the excitement and creativity at Googleplex headquarters, I have no doubt that these interns will be supremely motivated to get into ICT as fast as they can.

The Government also has a role to play in matching talent with opportunity and the Australian Government is committed to ensuring we have the ICT skills we need.

I have established an ICT Skills Foresighting Working Group, which will soon report on how to improve the supply of ICT professionals to meet the future skill needs of industry.

And in September last year I convened a Summit, which examined approaches to addressing ICT participation levels, particularly by young people and women. It is obvious from their hiring practices that Google understands the importance of a diverse workforce that reflects the characteristics of users.

That is why youthful and vibrant companies like Google are well-placed to improve the image of ICT so that it has more appeal for Generation Y and young women in particular.

Australia’s workforce is not the only factor in attracting companies such as Google to our shores. We are creating in Australia an environment that fosters ICT development, applications and innovation.

Like many of the fast growing IT companies, Google’s future business success will rely on the increased use and capacity of the internet. Australia has the fifth fastest growing broadband market in the OECD and planning is underway to upgrade Australia’s communications infrastructure to provide next generation broadband services.

The Government’s recent Connect Australia package recognises the critical role of broadband in growing Australia’s information economy.

The centrepiece of this package is the $878 million Broadband Connect program which aims to ensure rural, regional and remote Australians have equitable access to advanced broadband services.

The $113 million Clever Networks program, which complements Broadband Connect, will target the strategic roll-out of new infrastructure and innovative applications to improve health, education and other essential services.

Australia is the ideal location to perform high value research and development to service the global market and this is reflected in Google’s decision to base an R&D centre here.

Australia’s total annual ICT research and development expenditure is almost $3 billion, including industry and government funding. This is recognition of how essential ICT is becoming to modern business and to modern life.

And Google is certainly an essential and trusted part of this developing ICT landscape. I would like to officially welcome this expansion of Google in Australia and to wish you every success. I am pleased that it has happened so quickly after my visit to Google in the US.

I am now very pleased to declare the “Googleplex” Australia officially open. Thank you.