22 August 2006
Australian Federal Government halves its digital media vision
Posted by Mick (SplaTT) Stanic under: AIMIA .
Putting on my AIMIA National Board member hat for a moment…
If you are part of the digital media industry in Australia you should be appalled at the latest move by the Australian Federal Government which has halved the funds it allocates for export funding and services to our industry though Austrades TradeStart program.
If you are not sure what TradeStart does, here is a grab from the export section of the AIMIA website;
“The TradeStart program offers a package of free services designed to assist Australian companies to develop their businesses overseas and make their first export sale.
TradeStart gives Australian businesses the best possible start to exporting, by providing a wide range of free services to new exporters including advice and information about getting into exporting, export coaching and assistance on the ground in foreign markets.
National support for new or irregular exporters is available through AIMIA’s Export Centre with locations in both Sydney and the Gold Coast.”
AIMIA is an ICT specialist TradeStart provider and AIMIA’s export advisers are part of Austrade’s Global ICT Team. AIMIA works closely with Austrade to assist its members in getting offshore and launching internationally by providing two full-time dedicated resources (one in NSW and one in QLD) who work with them to see their export dreams become a reality.
If the Federal Government doesn’t rethink its decision, an Australian industry which according to the Digital Content Industry Action Report Agenda (launched by Senator Helen Coonan, Minister for Communications and Ian Macfarlane, Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources, earlier this year) which employs 300,000 people and contributes $21 billion annually to the Australian economy, will only have one person in one location (Sydney) providing backup and resources to all the companies around Australia wanting to benefit from what has been to date an outstandingly successful program
If you currently export overseas or are planning to at some point in the future, you should get in touch with your local Federal Government Representative and voice your opinion. It probably wouldn’t hurt to send a letter or fax to the following Federal Ministers as well;
The Hon Mark Vaile MP
Minister for Trade
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
via fax: (02) 6273 4128
Senator the Hon Helen Coonan
Minister for Communications
Office of the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts
Parliament House
CANBERRA ACT 2600
via fax: (02) 6273 4154
The Hon Ian Macfarlane MP
Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
via fax: (02) 6273 4104
Lets hope we can get them to revisit the decision they have made and not hobble the future export opportunities of an industry that we all enjoy being a part of.
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