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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 2 Hansard (28 February) . . Page.. 419 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

It makes sense also for local companies to team up with current government information technology officers who could wind up providing continuity of service. One of the disadvantages of outsourcing that has to be dealt with is the loss of corporate knowledge. I believe that that is an important issue that has to be taken into consideration. It may be advantageous to the ACT Government if it is permissible for a combined ACT Public Service and Canberra company bid, for example, to be submitted. Although no local company can supply all of the services and equipment, if they team up like this they would have a reasonable opportunity to compete. It would also be one way of dealing with possible unemployment in the Public Service as a result of outsourcing. Large companies who claim to provide the whole gamut of services in fact actually team up with smaller companies in order to make themselves more flexible and responsive to a variety of needs. ACT companies could do the same. The expertise gained from the exercise would be a valuable investment in the future growth of these companies and the growth of ACT business.

Local companies can form teams with other small companies so as to provide the IT services already necessary for the ACT Government, provided that the tenders and the systems are set up appropriately to allow them to do it. This is something we do not know because we have not seen the report from Price Waterhouse. The currently employed government IT officers may well decide that they want to join such teams. The article in the Canberra Times suggested that outsourcing meant that government information technology officers would be offered redundancy or redeployment. It seems ridiculous to sacrifice those jobs and risk gaining employment from outside the ACT. There is potential for those people to work in other companies that are based in Canberra, but we have to be concerned about continuity and redeployment.

We also know of the frustrations of companies who are based in Sydney or Melbourne in not being able to respond to Canberra for some time. It is another reason why local companies can not only benefit themselves but also be of benefit to us. The old "cheque in the mail" syndrome is something that does not have to happen when we have this sort of service in Canberra. We have expertise here in our own Public Service and also in companies in the ACT, including the full range of information technology and training. We have the opportunity to improve the employment base in the ACT.

Another by-product of opting for a single large interstate company is that, in order to save the money anticipated in information technology services, all the information technology services would wind up having to conform. This, of course, is a furphy. Modern information technology equipment does not suffer from the same problems of incompatibility as it used to in the past. We know ourselves that, even with our own small machines, we can take information from Apple computers and put it onto IBM computers and vice versa.

The ACT Government is certainly not an island. It needs to communicate with many outside on a regular basis. Some systems which are set up in autonomous agencies, such as Legal Aid and Parliamentary Counsel, for example, have different systems, but they do speak quite readily to other parts of the technology industry. I did have a few comments to make on the Department of Defence in terms of outsourcing, but I think the point is now made, and I look forward to a response from the Government in supporting ACT information technology businesses.

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