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"* EMBARGOED UNTIL 6.3Opm
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER, TXI! WON P J KIATING, MP
OPENIN43 OF AIJSTRAUAN STAND AT
HANOVIR 8 MARCH 1995
It Is a Pleasure to be in Hanover opening this Australian stand at CeBIT'
it Is also a source of pride which I trust Is shared by all the Australian
companies represnted here.
We are sharing tha exhibition with sorme of th'e world's best companies, in
some of % he word's most competitive Industflex.
It Is a signal honour that Australls has been chosen as tis year's Partner
Country for CeaIDT, and Aumtrlia's information technology and
telecommunicationa companies have responded with unprecedented
enthusiasm to the opportunity this fair presents to show Germany, Europe
4nd the world what the Australian inidustry has achieved.
One of the problems faced by Australian manufacturers and service
lidustries In marketing themselves abroad Is the absence of intemationally
recognised Australian brand names.
Our companies are doing remarkable things in information technology and
communications, but their achievemeant. often go unrmarked and
anonymous. Often they are masked by fth names of the overseas
companies with which they are connected.
Theo fact Is Australia does not live In the internallonal mnind as a famously
technological society. We do not have companieS which fly the flag In, the
way that aI Siemens file& It for G~ erm~ any, or Phillips for The Netherlands or
Microsoft for th~ e United States,
I have no doubt that Australian companies of thiS kind wvill soon emerge.
Teistra, to ofler one example, Is becoming a well known Australian brand In
Asia. Intellect, a CaBIT veteran which sells advanced point of s8la wW
smaert card technology, Is nlow a multinational firml opststing in Scanldinavia
and elsewhere in Europe.
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It will take time, but the l1'" Pott'rt thing is to ruC40gnis that the Process has
begun. and that the emergence of Such companies will signify not only their
Individtial succss but another Step in~ the transuformation of AsIjstai.
The presence of 170 Australian companies at CeB3IT was unimaginable lust a
few years ago. It demonstrate* how much the enivironment has changed In
Australia, how much it has adapted to the changed International
environment. CoSIT' 96 will change it that much more. For your companies and for
Austraiae It has, I believe, an historic dimonsion.
It Is not too much to say that you carry the future in your hands. Not alone,
of course: those traditional sectors of the Australian economy which have
served us so well down the years will continue to underpin our economic
success, at least So long as they continue to moderrilsa end adapt to
tachnologloui and globl change. So too will other now and sophisticated
elemnents of our manufacturing Indus" r.
But no other inidustry carries such reel and symbolic importance as the one
In which your companies are working. And no Industry serves all other
Industries, or isuso fundamntal to their fitur success, as your Industry Is.
It Is * iso true to say that more trian any other sector of the economy,
Information technology and communications will define the sort of society
we become In the 21 at century.
On your success, and on how we Austrlan governments apply the now
technology, subsiantally depends th achievement of our national
ambitions, Your work fits our strategy.
We need an Innovative, competitive modam manufacturing Industry. You
are providing us with one.
We need an export-oriented economy initegrated with our region and Mhe
world, You are helping us to build It.
We need to re-vitalise our regions. Your industry can help us do It.
We need to overcome the distances wnicm separate people and * Ommunities
from each other and Australia from the world. T1hat Is what you are about
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Yo make Australia competitive and to expand the realm of opportunity for
Australian$ now and In the future, we need comorehenalve and elfecove
vocational education and training. Your industry will play a crucial role.
Information technology arnd communicationsl isa baslc and defining element
In our economic and social ambitions -a world competve economy
underpinning an egalltarian. inclusive society.
It 13 an Industry with vast potential for good. It can make us a more
productive nation, make all sectofu of our economy mnote efficient, inettase
our exports. It Can deliver better health and other social services.
To quota just three examples of this potential: among the companies
represented hare are some like Mincom. which has developed sophisticated
systems for managing capital Intsnsive industris Including mining,
mnanufactuing and defence: and Rosemt Laboratories who have developed
Bralle computers, optical character reading machines that road to the blind;
anid Earth Resources Mapping. whose spectacular graphics packages for
visualisirig and analysin~ g Satellite piCTUres of the earth for applications like
mineral exploration, mapping end city planning, have set Il world standard.
Yet we shouldn't forget the moat fundamental foct about these new
technologies I mean the fact that properly applied, they can make all our
lives easier.
They 9o directly to the most commonplace and essential of our activities.
This is emiphatically not " bay* with toys" teochnalogy. it is technology to
make shopping easier, banking simpler, Teaching more effective, transport
" for, our public service more efficient. It can give Us better h* Spitals and
health services. It can enlarge our experience of the arts, open new
channels of creativity, deliver now and better realms of entertainment.
It has profoundly democratic possibilities.
Yet none of these benefits are inevtabtle. They will not happen by
themselves. They won't happen In Australia and they won't happen In the
world unless we decide ftat tey should happen and re-iolve to find the best
ways to rmake them happen.
Recenty I heard & bow% a startling fact which I think we igowla uaefully beer
In mind when we talk about communilcation's end informaTion technology: It
Is that half the worlds population has never made a telephone call.
We will fall ourselves and future generations If we allow the new technology
to compound the difference which nlow exists between developed and
developing counules if we allow Information technology and
communications to be as unfairly distributed as the world's other resources.
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And what is true of t-16 glaol application of th flaw tochnQlolO$ Is true In
different degrees lor Australia. We need a strategy which wIIl ensure that
the great potential of IT and T Is realised In the Interests of out democratic
end social goals.
I think I can may with some certainty that Australia has considered more fully
then most countries 4ll the Implications regulatory, technical and social of
the information society.
Last weak I launched 8 major report Commissionled by the Goverme~ nt Into
the provision of broadband services. The repo't lay* the groundwork for the
Government to be a leadingeodge user of the new technology. Our objective
Is not just to Improve the way we perform the existing functions of
Government but, much more broadly, to re-engineer Its work to deliver in
completely new and more effective ways services ranging from health inl
remote areas to the kinds of entertainment we & so every night In our
suburban homes.
Many of you will also be aware that lost year we dlivered two major
statements: the first on employment, the second on AuMalln cultural
development. Both expressly took account of the new technologies. Both
wer* designed to stimulate and give democratic and socIall direction to the
IT Indus" r.
Australia may not yet be well known tar Its technological Innovation and
excellence, we may not yet have that Siemens. or Sony or Microsoft, but
the companies represented here at CeSIT may reasonably think of
themselves as being leaders sm~ ng those who are establishing such a
reputation for us.
These 170 companies collectively carry one message to the 700,000 people
who are expected to visit this exhibition: It is that Ausuala knows the way
the world is going end will not be left behind.
Let me then congratulate thorn far their enterpriso and wisti them good luck
In their ventures.
Lot me also congratulate all those who worked so hasrd to put this together,
of AWTRADEao Dieter La Crn. e end his teem.
As I hove said so many times in the 082t, Ausualla's future is very much
tied to our close engagement with the economies of the Asia-Pacifc, not
least with our export to themn of Information technology and
tolecommuncstiofls. For that reason I want to welcome In paricular the
rmembers of business delegations who have Come here from Ousngzhau and
Japan especially to meet with Australian exhibitors.
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I also want to say how pleased I am that Australian State GOovemments re
giving this exhibition their full support; and thet the Premier of Queensland.
Wayne Goes, Deputy Premier Cowan from Westemrn Australla and Minister
Gude from Victoria have all made the effort to be here today.
And finally let me thank our German hets, whose generosity and hospitality
have made this visAt so rewarding and enjoyable partcularly the people of
Hanover. Since European settlement In 1788 Australiana have always known Hanover
as the place from which the British and, therefore, the Australian
monarchy came. When that connection passes., as I am sure It soon must,
this new link may well remain the link formed between Australea and
Hanover by this most 21st century event,
It is now my pleasure to officially open tills Australian exhlbtt at