By Rob O'Brien

The head of the peak body for ICT has called on the Federal Government to elevate debate on Australia’s place in the future digital economy ahead of the election on August 21.

Writing in a paid advert in The Australian Financial Review today the chief executive officer of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA),  Ian Birks, slammed both sides of parliament for marginalising the debate around Australia’s digital future.

The AIIA reserved criticism for the Coalition's failure to release its digital economy strategy and its opposition to the National Broadband Network, accusing it of “short-selling our future prosperity”.

“Our members are very concerned at the lack of debate on these critical issues in the election,” Mr Birks wrote.

“This concern is not self-serving. The short term nature of the current debate could allow decisions following the election that will compromise our nation’s future prosperity – at a time when we should be investing for the post-resources period we will ultimately enter over time.”

The AIIA has drawn up a list of economic imperatives to address Australia’s digital future including support from both sides of politics through direct investment in “ubiquitous high speed digital infrastructure, and by embracing specific initiatives to take advantage of the transformational nature of the applications it enables.”

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ranked Australia’s growth in multi-factor productivity between 2001 and 2007 9th out of 14 nations at 0.4 per cent.

Investment in ICT by businesses and governments as a percentage of total capital expenditure had declined over the same period by almost 50 per cent.

The AIIA said in its statement that a national focus on a digital economy would facilitate economic growth through job creation, new industry development and innovation through new types of collaboration.