A nationwide move by the Australian Democrats to nudge State and Territory Governments in the direction of open source software has now moved to Canberra.
Australian Democrats IT spokesperson, Senator Brian Greig, has today announced his intention of introducing a Private Member's Bill into the Senate to debate the matter.
"It makes little sense for Government Departments to spend millions of dollars purchasing software for their operations, when open source software may be perfectly adequate and is freely available," Senator Greig said.
Senator Greig has installed a Linux box with Open Office and the GIMP in his Perth office, which staff have been exploring over the last few months.
"It appears that this open source facility in my electorate office can do all the necessary functions we require. By comparison, the taxpayers paid about $900 for the proprietary software to run this Commonwealth facility," Senator Greig said.
Senator Greig says the aim of his Bill is to require Commonwealth Departments to give serious consideration to open source when creating, upgrading or expanding existing IT resources.
"The knee-jerk arguments against open source by multinational software companies is based on self interest and designed to create fear, uncertainty and doubt," Senator Greig said.
"We need a sensible and objective discussion on this issue, free of vested interests and focused on the needs of departments and the cost to taxpayers.
"The key issue around open source software is about maintaining the highest levels Australian control over Australian interests. Using open source software will not only increase the control that we have over our technology, but at the same time give a boost to the development of the local software industry in a rapidly growing market area," Senator Greig said.
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