(Last Reviewed :  21/10/2008 )

KEY POINTS

  • The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry includes the production of computer hardware, computer software, telecommunications assets, computer services and telecommunications services.

  • The ICT industry directly accounts for some 4.6 per cent of Australia's GDP1 and indirectly enhances the contribution to GDP made by every other sector.

  • In August 2008 Australia had approximately 388 700 employed in ICT occupations or by specific ICT businesses.2 

  • Australia has the 12th largest ICT market globally and the fifth largest in the Asia Pacific region.3 

FACTS AND FIGURES

  • In 2006-07 Australian exports of ICT amounted to $5.175 billion ($3.02 billion in goods and $2.155 billion in services).  Major export markets include the USA, UK and ASEAN.  Australia's imports of ICT were $26.1 billion ($22.89 billion in goods and $3.209 billion in services).  Major sources of imports include China, ASEAN and the USA.4

  • In 2007-08 exports of ICT goods were $3.136 billion with imports totalling $23.717 billion.5

  • Total income for all ICT industries in 2006–07 was $122.839 billion, of which almost three quarters was attributable to the combined income of wholesale trade ($50.903 billion) and information media and telecommunications ($40.208 billion) groupings. ICT income in 2006-07 was $97.753 billion, excluding non-traditional technical areas such as electronic and precision equipment maintenance (except domestic appliances).6

  • Industry Value added for all ICT industries in 2006-07 was $44.183 billion.7

  • E-readiness is a measure of the quality of a country’s ICT infrastructure and the ability of its consumers, businesses and governments to use ICT to their economic and social benefit. In 2008, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Australia fourth in the world in terms of overall e-readiness with an overall score of 8.83, up from ninth position in 2007.8 

  • The 2007 World Competitiveness Yearbook ranks Australia: seventh for level of cyber security within technology infrastructure - ahead of the USA (fourteenth), Germany (twenty third); and eighth in the number of computers per 1000 people, ahead for example, of Canada, UK, Germany, and Singapore.

  • The Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia reported the sale of video and computer games to be worth $1.5 billion in 2007–08, an increase of 53 per cent on the previous financial year.9 

 

 

Footnotes

1 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) – Cat. No.5259.0: ICT Satellite Account 2002–03; released March 2006.
2  ABS, Labour Force Survey, August 2008; Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations trend data.
3  World Information Technology and Services Alliance, Digital Planet 2008, the Global Information Economy, Austrade  Financial Services Benchmark 
    Report 2008.
4  Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) ICT Trade Data, analysis consistent with ABS Cat. 5368.0, August 2008.
5  DFAT ICT Trade Data, analysis consistent with ABS Cat. 5368.0, August 2008. Note: Services figures yet to be released for 2007-08.
6  ABS 2006-2007 ICT Industry Survey Cat No. 8126.0, published October 2008.
7  ABS 2006-2007 ICT Industry Survey Cat No. 8126.0, published October 2008.
8  Economist Intelligence Unit, E-readiness Rankings 2008, Maintaining Momentum; Austrade Financial Services Benchmark Report 2008.
9  IEAA – News Room: http://www.ieaa.com.au/news.html, published 16 July 2008.