Australian Computer Society

Media Release

Computer Society to Push Australian IT in South East Asia

24th May 1996, Perth - Tom Worthington, President of the 16,000 member Australian Computer Society (ACS), today called on the Australian IT industry to join the ACS in promoting Australia's expertise throughout the region.

Speaking at the annual general meeting of the ACS, Mr Worthington announced he will lead an Australian delegation to the South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation (SEARCC'96) in Bangkok, from 4-6 July 4-6 this year.

"The Australian IT industry should take the opportunities these regional conferences present to promote the industry to our neighbours," said Mr Worthington, who criticised the executives of some Australian IT companies for failing to take up the opportunities presented by regional contacts.

"Australian IT executives are ignoring the potential of events like SEARCC. There is no magic marketing gimmick which will instantly correct the disastrous imbalance in Australian IT trade. We need to get out and sell what we have to offer. There are no excuses with events where we have been invited to take part," he said. "The ACS has thirty years of experience in practical, regular contact with Asia. Our 16,000 members in Government agencies, industry and academia have access to regional contacts and can use these to promote Australian involvement in our region."

Mr Worthington, a senior IT policy adviser with the Department of Defence, will attend the conference in Bangkok as a member of the SEARCC Executive Council.

The delegation will also include Prins Ralston, Vice-President of the ACS, and Dr Alan Underwood, Associate Professor Information Systems, Queensland University of Technology.

Mr Ralston is a prominent member of the NT Branch of the ACS, which is hosting the next SEARCC conference in Darwin in 1998, while Dr Underwood is a member of the ACS Council, a noted IT educationalist and Assistant Secretary General of SEARCC.

"The ACS works closely on regional IT matters through the South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation (SEARCC). I invite industry and Government representatives to join the ACS at SEARCC'96."

Mr Worthington also invited industry and Government to become involved in the 14th World Computer Congress and Exhibition, to be held in Canberra in September. The ACS is hosting IFIP96 on behalf of the 65 nations of the International Federation for Information Processing. Registrations for attendance and for exhibition booths at the congress are now open.

ENDS

Media Enquiries:

Tom Worthington, President, Australian Computer Society Inc, GPO Box 446, Canberra ACT 2601, Fax: +61 6 2496419, Email: tom.worthington@tomw.net.au or http://www.tomw.net.au
Prins Ralston , Tel: +6189 466264, Fax: +6189 466487, Email: p_ralston@darwin.ntu.edu.au
Dr. Alan Underwood, Assistant Secretary General of SEARCC, Tel: +617 38642515, Fax: 61 7 3864-1282, Email: alanu@dstc.qut.edu.au
Caroline New, ACS Public Relations Consultant, Tel: +61 2 630 2108, Fax: +61 2 630 1685 Email: cnew@acslink.net.au

For Conference Details:

SEARCC96: http://www.acs.org.au/news/searcall.htm
SEARCC98: http://www.acs.org.au/national/searcc.htm
IFIP96: http://www.acs.org.au/ifip96.html

About the ACS:

The Australian Computer Society is the professional association in Australia for those in the computing and information technology fields. It was established in 1966. The Society has over 16,000 members and on a per capita basis is one of the largest compute societies in the world.