Is Australia's ICT Workforce Facing Life Support?

Demand for ICT workers in Australia is predicted to grow by 100,000 by 2020 according to a report commissioned by the Australian Computer Society. That's an average annual growth of 2.5%. Australia's Digital Pulse produced by Deloitte Access Economics (DAE) outlines some of the challenges related to skills, jobs and education.

Digital Pulse Appendix

Those gathered at the Victorian launch on 8 July welcomed the report. According to ACS President Brenda Aynsley: “Victoria has a strong history of development in ICT and this is shown in the continuing growth in employment demand. An additional 3.2% to the ICT workforce is going to be required each year, right up until 2020. This equates to nearly 40,000 extra local workers needed over the next six years. With a sustained focus on digital education and training, Victoria will be better positioned to meet this high demand locally."

However, she believes that it is "an urgent matter".

Most of the audience were wearing their daytime uniforms, with grey suits predominating. However, there was nothing bland about the Q&A session after the presentation. Many in the audience expressed concern about the extent of the problems facing Oz ICT:

• The 100,000 increase does not represent the actual number of new workers needed. The high industry turnover will mean many more workers will have to be replaced.
• The critical role and importance of TAFE training needs more attention.
• The need for concrete plans to realise future directions such as the report recommendation that higher education institutions develop "more disciplinary opportunities between ICT and other subject areas".
• The education and training needs of so-called 'non-ICT' workers.
• The short-sighted approach to the brain-drain, using temporary 457 visas. DAE reports that "in recent years many Australian businesses have relied on workers from overseas and importing ICT skills to fill the gap. More than 10,000 temporary skilled migration (457) visas have been granted annually to ICT workers over recent years, and net arrivals of ICT workers were around 19,000 in 2013–14. with 10,000 granted annually in recent years".
• The increasingly artificial distinction between the technological world of engineers, programmers and web developers and their "users".

DAE has recommended "an increased national focus on growing Australia's ICT capabilities and skills in the workforce". When the report was first released in June, SBS's The Feed concentrated on the workforce's poor image in its segment Are TV nerd stereotypes holding back the industry?



Terence Huynh, aka the Tech Geek, is no nerd hiding in the backroom. His post Victoria needs 40,000 extra IT workers, according to new ACS data looks at the State data distributed at the Victorian launch:

Victoria will need 40,000 extra IT employees over the next six years in order to meet demand in 2020, according to new data from the Australian Computer Society and Deloitte Access Economics released today.

...According to the new local data, Victoria’s IT sector will grow by an additional 3.2 percent each year over the next six years – higher than the national average found in the Australia’s Digital Pulse report.

This will largely be due to the predicted growth in IT management jobs as a number of organisations are expected to base their organisations in Victoria. This was recently helped by Square announcing that they open an Australian office in Melbourne, and said they chose the city because of its “growing reputation as Australia’s technology hub”.

“Victoria has a large number of highly skilled workers, and as a result the state is an attractive place for leading edge companies to do business. What this report shows is that state based programs can deliver real results and because of this we are seeing the digital economy in Victoria reaching new heights,” ACS Victoria Chair, Craig Horne, said.

It was disappointing that there was not enough time for more discussion. The audience raised several hot issues including a perceived failure of government and business to take a lead.

More than one participant expressed the view that the 2.5% growth in the ICT workforce reflects a "pathetic trend" when compared with our international competitors.

If the sector is to balance some of 5 million Australian jobs tipped to go by CEDA (Committee for Economic Development of Australia), then it needs to get cracking. Ironically, the disappearing jobs will be the result of "technological advancements".

Sorry I won't be around to tell 'em I told ya so.

For those who are still interested in the state of climate change science, a concise video from the IPCC Warsaw COP19 meeting:

For more please see: The actual probability of Earth going to hell in the next few decades

I know we are constantly being told that we will not persuade anyone with evidence or with scary stuff. So do what's recommended and use narrative. Tell them the one about the big bad denier who huffed and puffed...

Global Voices' Andrea Arzaba has a tale from Warsaw worth sharing: COP19: Fasting For The Climate:

Yeb Saño, leader of the Philippines delegation at the United Nations Summit on Climate Change in Poland (COP19), has decided to stop eating until he sees real solutions from negotiators at the summit. He wants the process to bring “climate justice to the poorest countries,” and links Typhoon Haiyan, which has left more than 4,000 people dead and 4 million displaced, to climate change.

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Progress 2013 Conference to plot political futures

Tony Abbott wants us to repent. Well here’s my confession. I have sinned by:

• chipping in for the Climate Council
• signing GetUp! and Change.org petitions about asylum seekers, the Great Barrier Reef and Burger Off’s campaign against McDonald’s in Tecoma.
• voting for @Albo and agitating for Labor party reform
• joining Blog Action Day with a human rights post about Tony’s confessor Cardinal Pell
• posting questions on Our Say Australia’s forums
• commenting on stories at Guardian Australia and the Conversation
• retweeting whether it is insensitive, nay unpatriotic to use ‘bushfires’ and ‘climate’ in the same tweet
• sharing rabble-rousing republican propaganda
• adding to the Sumofus.org
• having boorish thoughts about Barnaby Joyce on QandA

It all seems very passive and dispiriting – not saving the planet, not even the backyard, but at least it keeps some of us off the streets. Or is that the problem? These are dark days indeed for progressive activists in Australia as we are rolled back to the Howard and Menzies years. Time to ask the experts.

For all is not lost. There is light in the hall. Melbourne Town Hall, that is. The Progress 2013 conference in Melbourne on 7 & 8 November is beckoning:

‘Progress 2013 is about what’s next: the issues, the people, and the strategies that will define Australia’s non-profits and social movements for years to come.’

There will be lots of the usual suspects coming: Jane Caro, Tim Flannery, Robert Manne, Sam McLean, Miriam Lyons, Anna Rose, Rachel Perkins, Will Stefen, Tim Costello.

It’s a very catholic gathering with specialists in: human rights law, the environment in all its manifestations, Asia, refugees, cancer, disability, indigenous peoples, film, the Middle East, public health, population, participatory democracy, international aid, the web, wilderness, women, workplaces. To paste but a slice, and that’s just the speakers.

As you would expect at this kind of get together, there are plenty of process people on the agenda: researchers, social entrepreneurs, communications nurds and social media geeks, digital natives [not my terminology], community organisers and campaigners, crowd funders, political campaigners.

There is at least one: singer/songwriter, union organiser, NGO CEO, refugee activist, charities, journalist, LGBTI advocate, columnist, feminist, digital strategist, marriage equality, youth group, philanthropist, academic, political sociologist, economist, publisher, B-Corporation (had to look that one up!], pastor and at least one citizen journalist. Some shade under multiple hats.

There are even a couple of parliamentarians coming: Wayne Swan and Scott Ludlam. The conference is not cheap, unless an organisation is sponsoring you, but it might be tax deductible. The pollies normally cover these events through their parliamentary allowances but that’s another story.

The OurSay  participatory democracy platform has 3 forums operating before the conference. The top questions will be asked of speakers during their sessions.

OurSay is also giving away three tickets to the winning question at each forum. There is still time to post a question as voting closes on 2 November. It is very democratic. You get 7 votes to spread around or give to one question. [Confession: I’m in the running]. So vote early and vote often, as was oft heard around the Collingwood or Richmond town halls of yesteryear.

One of the forums is Words Count. The questions are for ‘Messaging guru and author’, Anat Shenker-Osorio.

@Kevin_Rennie @OurSayAust thrilled to be grilled by the Aussies! Bring it on
— Anat Shenker-Osorio (@anatosaurus) October 15, 2013

Timely given the insistence of Immigration Minister Morrison that asylum seekers be labelled “illegals” when they arrive by boat and “detainees” when he’s locked them up out of sight in our latest version of purgatory.

Finally, if you’re a follower of fashion then the flavor of the month is orange, part of the livery of Cathy McGowan’s successful Federal election campaign for Indi. Since we are having trouble getting our act together globally, we are all now thinking locally. Community campaigning is the rage since her triumph.

Ben McGowan, co-founder of Voice for Indi will be there. A drink or two with Ben and Obama field campaign director, Jeremy Bird, should be a door prize but you’ll have to elbow past me to be part of that round. There is a conference party for ticket holders at Thousand Pound Bend that will be opened by local member of the House of Reps, Adam Bandt. All expenses paid perhaps – if so it’s his shout.

Following last Saturday’s NSW Miranda by-election, I fancy an orange firies’ suit for any kitchen table talk.

Anyway, come along and help plot a progressive future. If not then follow @ausprogress, #progress2013 or the Facebook page.

* The conference is organised by the Centre for Australian Progress ‘a new organisation dedicated to building the advocacy capacity of Australia’s civil society’.

For further coverage of Progress 2013, please watch this space.

Update: A list of Who’s coming to Progress 2013

Update 30 October: Video - 7 days to go - will you be there?

Cross post with No Fibs.

Al Gore: Peril and Opportunity of the Climate Crisis

Al Gore on 'Peril and Opportunity: Solving the Climate Crisis and Reinvigorating Democracy' April 23, 2013 Stanford University

Thanks again to Mary Vincent at Smart Tech News:

"On April 23, 2013, Al Gore gave a riveting and engaging Stanford University lecture on the topic 'Peril and Opportunity: Solving the Climate Crisis and Reinvigorating Democracy' during the 1st Annual Stephen H. Schneider Memorial Lecture. I recorded a 20 minute video excerpt, and it's below for your reference."

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Climate One Video Montage: Not an Academic Exercise

Video: Stephen Schneider Climate One Montage:

'A montage of the former Stanford Woods Institute Senior Fellow and renowned climate scientist Stephen Schneider discussing climate change.'

Thanks to Mary Vincent at Smart Tech News.

The Great Broadband Wagon

Great Broadband Wagon Rolls on in Australia is my latest weblog for Global Voices Online:

The Opposition’s national broadband policy, released on 9 April 2013, was always going to be highly contentious in Australia. It is not just for geeks but also looms as a major issue in the Federal election to be held on 14 September 2013.

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