Queensland ICT Minister Robert Schwarten suffered a mis-step in his election campaign today, attacking the wrong opposition spokesperson on the Liberal National Party election policy on government ICT spending cuts.
QLD ICT Minister Robert Schwarten (Credit: Qld Govt)
Schwarten issued a statement slamming opposition leader Lawrence Springborg and shadow Minister for Housing Affordability and Public Works, Ray Stevens, demanding the pair explain proposed cuts to the state government's ICT budget of $30 million.
"By taking $30 million out of ICT to pay for his unfunded, irresponsible promises, Mr Springborg is taking a sledgehammer to the engine of government," Schwarten said. "It's up to Mr Stevens to stand up for the ICT industry in Queensland and stop him."
However, Stevens' office confirmed this afternoon that it was actually Fiona Simpson, the shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Main Roads and Transport, that was responsible for opposition ICT policy. Stevens' office was planning to issue a correction on the issue. Simpson's office has not yet responded to a request for comment.
In a broader sense, the Minister's statement claimed the cuts that Schwarten said Springborg had flagged would have a "disastrous" effect on the state.
"Mr Springborg nominated ICT as the area he wanted to cut most and as such shows his ignorance about the necessity of ICT to our government," Schwarten wrote.
"At the moment the Queensland Government is implementing the biggest consolidation of ICT services ever, and a cut to the ICT spend now will compromise this and in the long run cost Queenslanders dearly."
The news comes as both sides of politics have come under pressure from Queensland's ICT industry this week, with a lobby group representing a large part of the industry placing advertisements demanding support from both sides of politics to boost technology jobs and the industry as a whole.
A number of prominent IT bodies, including the Australian Computer Society, IT Gold Coast, the Australian Information Industry Association, the Australian Spatial Information Business Association, the Australian Telecommunications User Group, the IT Contract and Recruitment Association, Queensland Dot NET, Software Queensland and Women in Technology have banded together to form the lobby group called the ICT Industry Workgroup.
Today the group said in a statement that 100 of the state's ICT leaders would converge on Brisbane tomorrow to urge Premier Anna Bligh and Springborg to commit to the industry's strategy of creating 30,000 new ICT jobs in the state, adding to the industry's existing 70,000-strong workforce.
The group claims the state's ICT industry has an annual turnover of nearly $30 billion, which it claims places it at a level of importance higher than the mining and agriculture industries combined.
As one of those IT leaders who will be attending tomorrow's debate, I am keen to see both sides intentions in relation to ICT.
Currently both sides of politics at a state and federal level seem bent on cutting ICT spending at any expense, and limiting the growth of ICT innovation in Australia