ACS Welcomes and Endorses Mortimer Report
Friday 25 July 1997- The Australian Computer Society has welcomed the recommendations of the Mortimer Report , which calls for a $21 billion, five-year plan to revamp the Federal Government’s industry assistance strategy.
ACS Vice President, Prins Ralston, said several of the initiatives in the report are particularly relevant to the IT industry, such as the $1 billion investment fund to attract new technologies to Australia, investment incentives, innovation rebates and R&D tax incentives.
"We want to commend David Mortimer and his team on the results of their six month review and encourage the Howard Government to look seriously at implementing these reforms," said Mr Ralston.
Back in February this year in its Submission to the Information Industries Taskforce (IIT), the ACS raised the issue of Australia’s poor trade performance, calling for Governments at both Federal and State level to take urgent action to raise the profile of, and commitment to, the information industries.
"The Mortimer report really underscores the comments of the IIT in highlighting the lack of vision displayed by the Australian Government with regard to industry in general and IT in particular.
"Over the past several months there has been lots of talk about the need for decisive action to address the problems, but little real progress made towards establishing a strong and economically viable industry.
"Adopting the recommendations of the Mortimer report would provide a clear and positive direction not only for the IT industry, but for a broad cross-section of Australian business. Such a move would also ensure the ready support of the many business and industry leaders who have already indicated their approval of the contents of this document," Mr Ralston said.
The ACS has also welcomed the report’s focus on Asia rather than Western Europe and the US, saying greater emphasis on the opportunities available within the Asia-Pacific Region is long overdue.
This media release is located on the Web at http://www.acs.org.au/news/mortimer.htm
ENDS
Media Enquiries:
Prins Ralston, ACS Vice President, Tel: (0411) 755 069, Email: P_Ralston@ntu.edu.au
Caroline New, Caroline New PR, Tel: (02) 9980 8060 or (0411) 889 456, Email: cnew@acslink.net.au
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