The AIIA Turns 30
The AIIA Turns 30
September 2, 2008: This week marks The Australian Information Industry Association’s (AIIA) 30th anniversary, a milestone it celebrated with politicians and industry stakeholders at Old Parliament House in Canberra.
The association is the peak industry body for the Australian technology sector, and according to Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, it has been a key player in this area for many years.
“I expect that in years to come we will be able to look back at significant further contributions this group has made to the digital world,” said Senator Conroy in his speech at the event. “I congratulate the AIIA and its members on being an integral part of the ‘ICT space’ over the past three decades.”
Since 1978, the AIIA has grown from 23 founding members to represent almost 500 technology companies in Australia. Its members employ over 100,000 Australians, export more than $2 billion in goods and services each year, and deliver over half of the sector’s total annual revenue of $90 billion per annum in an industry that contributes 5 percent of GDP.
Over the past 30 years the AIIA has succeeded in lobbying the government to remove sales tax on software, saving the software industry 10 per cent of its value every year over 12 years (which runs into billions of dollars), and it won an extended battle to ensure all data networking equipment was not simply classified as telecoms equipment, which saved our members millions of dollars in government tariffs.
It also ran a successful campaign to reduce capital gains tax on technology investments for SMEs by 50 per cent, pushed for changes of government contracting policy that now allows suppliers' to cap their liability at appropriate levels in ICT goods and services procurement, and much more.
The 30th anniversary also came at an interesting time according to AIIA Chairman and Managing Director of Data #3, John Grant, “as AIIA recasts its vision to a future where a thriving, sustainable and profitable information industry is recognised as underpinning opportunity for all Australians and the Australian economy.
To realise this vision, Grant says that 2008 will see the association set the strategic direction for the Australian technology industry across five key areas covering industry growth, workforce, infrastructure, shaping the business environment and environmental sustainability.
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