Rob Durie, executive director of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) believes this meagre representation is more the fault of poor educational opportunities in remote areas - than of racial prejudice.
-It's more about what opportunities have been available to indigenous Australians," he said.
The IT industry traditionally exercised no racial prejudice in its hiring practises, Durie said.
He said geographic isolation had left many indigenous Australians unable to undertake formal IT-specific tertiary education or vendor-specific training.
And lack of formal training meant less chance of breaking into the industry. -At any level of this industry you need some training," he said.
Of 8,000 Aborigines undertaking tertiary education at the end of 2000, only 107 were enrolled in IT-related courses, according to figures released by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission.
ATSIC this week announced it would employ a consulting officer to develop a strategy to build Aboriginal employability in the Australian IT industry.
The officer, who would be given an office close to some remote Aboriginal communities, would consult with the AIIA over nine months to develop strategies of bringing educational opportunities to Aboriginal homes.
Durie said while the AIIA tried to remain -community-minded", he believed the industry would benefit from the program as much as the individuals the program targeted.
He said the privately-funded industry group did not perceive it was undertaking government responsibility.
The group's involvement in the program was driven by a thirst for skilled employees, he said.
An ATSIC spokesperson agreed the government sector was not solely responsible for bringing IT training to Aborigines.
-Governments only have a short distance that they can go," the spokesperson said.
Durie said the Australian offices of some of the world's largest IT firms had already approached the AIIA with proposals to bring industry training to Aborigines.
Mr Durie needs to take some studies in education to fully understand the relationship between institutional racism in formal education systems and how it is transferred across into the workplace. One is reflective of the other and vis versa. If it exists in educational systems then it exists in the educational opportunities of Australia's IT industry.
Of course the education system is failing Indigenous people. Ask any federal education minister and they will concur that Indigenous people have yet to come close to improving comparative education outcomes to mainstream Australia. Only 26% of Indigenous Australian complete year twelve. But what are we going to do.
From what evidence does he base his statements throughout this article? How does one determine what as 'poor educational opportunities' in remote areas? How does one compare this across other geographic environments (rural, urban). If it is only due to remoteness than maybe the background of these 25 Indigenous industry staff must be mostly urban educated. If so, then this would strengthen Indigenous education needs for rural and remote services.
For the industry to place blame on another institution such as the education department raises concerns about the levels of acceptance. We need to address the issue at hand. Seldom to commercial employment agencies provided support for equal opportunity especially for Indigenous students. Apart from mining companies, in particular and predominately those in concemtrated Indigenous locations, there is very little evidence of telecommunication bodies other than Telstra (as a remnant of government expectations) pushing strong indigenous employment strategies. Unless they can enlighten me otherwise, telecommunication and Information commercial companies have not come to the table todiscuss under-employment of Indigenous people in their industry. Yet when the first opportunity has arisen they are quick to blame the lack of educational training as the cause. If available career paths were established within the industry then Indigenous people would fill them. Which of the IT industry leaders have Indigenous employment strategies. If any, what are their current ratios of Indigenous to non-Indigenous employers. Is racism the issue or is equity the need?