IT solutions company Anite International said it would pursue business in the Asia Pacific region from the office in Melbourne.
"Our decision to establish permanent operations in Asia Pacific was prompted by a major contract win with the Victorian Office of Housing in October last year," said Martyn Phillips, managing director for Anite International. "It reinforced the types of opportunities available in line with our vision for expansion into the region. It will also enable us to build a core team of more than 100 staff by mid-2004."
"The housing project was the largest ICT tender to be awarded by the Victorian government in 2002 and is worth AU$30 million over seven years," said Phillips. "We saw enormous value to the business in utilising Victoria's talented pool of IT resources for this project."
Under the contract, Anite International will develop and deliver a Web-based IT system using Microsoft's .NET platform, which will better manage Victoria's 72,000 public housing properties and help the Office of Housing meet the needs of tenants more quickly.
Anite International is one of the first companies to receive assistance from the recently launched Victoria .NET Cluster, funded by the Victorian government under the Next Wave Program and sponsored by Microsoft. The cluster is a collaboration of a number of companies including software vendors and developers.
Right.. So we're supposed to be happy that our government awards a Victorian contract to a UK company, which graciously gives some of that work back to the people of Victoria. What the hell is wrong with this country? Surely if this company can employ Victorians to complete the project, we have the intellectual resources to do it ourselves!!!
We need legislation stopping our moronic politicians and public servants from sending work offshore. Now.