AIIA refutes offshoring bias claim
AIIA refutes offshoring bias claim
The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) has hit back over accusations that the study it published on offshoring earlier this week illustrated a pro-offshoring bias on its part.
The move comes after Shadow IT Minister Kate Lundy described the report as self-serving and one-eyed.
Lundy accused the AIIA of presenting offshoring in a positive light because they are funded by the very organisations that want to take work offshore, an accusation hotly disputed by AIIA's chief executive, Rob Durie.
"The purpose for commissioning the offshoring study is to allow us the opportunity to understand what is happening among the industry's customers regarding the issue of IT offshoring, so that we can best position the Australian industry for growth.
"AIIA is neither pro-offshoring nor anti-offshoring. What we are is unashamedly pro-industry growth. That means growing the local industry, encouraging Australian companies to export, and seeking further investment from MNCs.
"I would like to rebut, in the strongest terms, the assertion that AIIA represents the "big end of town" and that we asserted yesterday 'that sending IT jobs offshore to other countries is good for Australia'.
"We have not, nor will we ever, cheer the disappearance of Australian jobs to overseas destinations. But free trade is not a zero sum game."
"Australia must start to better leverage our strategic advantages in the offshoring phenomenon. We have a relatively low cost (compared to the US and Western Europe), highly skilled, culturally and linguistically diverse workforce capable of designing and developing leading edge technologies. Australia must leverage these competitive advantages if we are to take our place on the global ICT stage and start to win a greater proportion of investment and overseas work."
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