Senator LUNDY (8:57 PM) —I rise this evening to talk about an issue that has occupied a significant proportion of my time throughout my period here in the Senate. It is one that relates to information technology. Certainly this government's total disregard on this issue is something that has become an actual symbol of their lack of leadership for the Australian people. I note with interest the contributions of Senator Tierney over the last couple of adjournment debates in trying to put on the public record some credentials that this government has in respect of IT policy.

This evening I would like to put the perspective that Labor holds in respect of this government's credentials on IT policy. It is quite a shameful one. The government has, in fact, squandered the opportunities that have presented themselves to this country. Over the last two years, we have seen this government continually on the back foot when it comes to seeking out and taking hold of the opportunities that are presented to us.

There is so much ground to traverse in this contribution that it may in fact take me beyond the time I have to speak in this adjournment debate, but I would like to start the story with what I see is a significant plank in this government's deficient approach to IT policy. It relates to the identification of Australia's advantages in this area. What are our strengths? What can we hang our advancement on?

One thing that has become very clear over the last two years is the role of government procurement in relation to information technology policy. We know that the largest IT contracts in this country belong to the Commonwealth government. As of the budget statements of last year, we know that this government handed these contracts as a gift to private corporations. The significance of this should not be underestimated. The policies, the procedures and the practices which this government put in place to implement this procedure have not only deprived Australian industry of the opportunity to participate in these contracts but in fact reshaped the opportunities that present themselves.

I refer back to Labor's period in office when the Office of Government Information Technology was established. The basis upon which this office was established was quite sound. It was about trying to harness the efficiencies across a whole of government regime with respect to information technologies and it was about looking at a coordinated approach. We have heard many times in this chamber references by government members to a particular report called Clients first saying that somehow the government's outsourcing agenda was driven by the Labor initiated report Clients first. I am here this evening to draw the distinction between what Labor's vision was for government IT and what this government has done to completely thwart the principles and processes that were put in place.

Clients first identified the potential for efficiencies to be gained. It identified outsourcing as a mechanism for doing that, but it did so on the basis that a benchmark had to be established and the actual precise merits of establishing what efficiencies were needed to be put in place. It was quite a dry formula and I think one that could have been improved. But in handing over the power to this government and the change of political party in control of this country we have seen a complete shift in the approach to the IT outsourcing of government. No longer is it an issue of trying to achieve efficiencies. It is now an issue of complete restructuring of our Australian IT industry.

Through the IT outsourcing process, this government is attempting to harness leverage that will completely disarm and disenfranchise the Australian IT sector. The mechanism for doing this is using vertically integrated and laterally connected cluster contracts, the first of which is cluster 3 which is now being let to a multinational corporation called CSC. It is interesting to note that the savings advocated as the initial justification for this project for this financial year are completely unrealised given the contract has only just been let and we are now only a short month or two away from the budget.

The processes initiated by this have changed the future for our Australian information technology industry. No longer can Australian companies hold up the badge of honour that comes with holding a government contract as a credential to improve their export markets. Under cluster 3, they are perpetually relegated to the subservient position of subcontractor. This denies the sector the opportunity to do business in the way that they set themselves up to do it. The complete domination of the Australian IT sector by these large players is not something that only the Labor Party is concerned about: we know the sector is angry. Their words, their pleas and their messages to the government are being completely ignored.

In this regard it is an interesting process to start analysing what this government's motivation is for what seems on the surface to be a completely unreasonable policy. Why would a government compromise part of our private sector which has the potential for the fastest growth, the most new job opportunities of any sector in the country? We know this because of global trends. We know the information technology sector is one that is growing and has the most potential to grow. So what could possibly motivate this government to deny this sector that opportunity in Australia? I look to a couple of indicators, but the most outstanding is one of laziness. When you have a government that has no creativity, no scope to look beyond what the simple, lazy policy solutions are, you find a government that has the most clout, the most power and can provide the simplest solution.

We see this government wooing multinational corporations. We see them inviting them to cabinet. We see CEO after CEO of major multinational corporations spending time with the Prime Minister and telling him what he can do for them. The Prime Minister is not telling these corporations what they need to do if they want to get a bite of the Commonwealth government's IT outsourcing cherry. We see these corporations dictating to this government what they demand if this country wants the privilege of their presence here. This is what distinguishes Australia from the rest of the world. What we have is a situation where there are lucrative opportunities in the area of IT outsourcing, but these lucrative opportunities should be there to help foster and grow our own uniquely innovative sector.

One of the important issues is definition. I for one know that there is a complex blend of multinational corporations that employ local people and that distinction becomes quite clouded. But, in the first instance, the Prime Minister must be looking towards the strength of this country and providing our own businesses with opportunities; not excluding them. (Time expired)