Four Corners' "Chinese Whispers" - Wake up Australia

On June 24th 2009 I wrote the blog “Please keep sending IT work off shore…. I need a new car!”

Part of it highlighted the risk to National Security of not having sufficient and qualified IT skills in the future.

From last night’s ABC TV Four Corners program “Chinese Whispers” I can see that my arguments were on the mark.

What I wrote in June 24th last year:

“National Security

Information Technology is evolving as the greatest new frontier with what new powers and control will be defined. The penetration of corporate networks, country networks, systems and people’s systems can be impacted so dramatically by viruses, intrusion, performance degradation, intellectual property appropriation, identity theft; that government services, corporate services and individual activities could be grounded to a halt.

Not having sufficient local developed skills to prepare for these eventualities could prove to be a disaster. If we continue off shoring, our young people will not study IT degrees because the jobs are available in other countries and not locally. Not having a healthy pool of senior and sophisticated IT skills in the country is not like not making cars or t-shirts in the country. There is no national security implications by not having skills to make cars or t-shirts, however the implications for our national security for generations to come by not having IT skills is huge.”

Last night ABC TV Four Corner’s “Chinese Whispers” (available on http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/series/four%20corners and to be repeated on ABC TV on 20th April at 11.35 pm) is just an indication of things to come.

Are we ready? Do we have the skills and talent to confront this kind of situations or are we going to go into a meltdown?

Time to think seriously about this one. It is time to wake up and develop the skills in the country in terms of numbers and capacity to confront this imminent high risk business and national risk.