In a speech on Thursday morning at an Australian Council of Trade Unions event, the Prime Minister accused IT firms of rorting the scheme at the expense of Australian workers. An angry Atlassian co-founder Mike-Cannon-Brookes described Ms Gillard's comments as ridiculous and said his firm would love to hire more Australians but "we don't have the scale or scope of talent here". Matt Barrie, CEO of Freelancer.com, who has been campaigning for better IT education in Australia for some time, described the Prime Minister's comments as "absolutely outrageous" and "desperate vote-mongering". "There wouldn't be an IT industry in Australia if it wasn't for the fact that we could draw from overseas labour," he said, adding that Freelancer was always looking for software engineers but received only one local applicant a day on average.

http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/gillard-accused-of-desperate-votemongering-20130314-2g2pa.html Employers want a 'cheapie, just arrived off the boat', Aussie IT workers told Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/employers-want-a-cheapie-just-arrived-off-the-boat-aussie-it-workers-told-20130315-2g515.html#ixzz2NgpqMN47 http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/employers-want-a-cheapie-just-arrived-off-the-boat-aussie-it-workers-told-20130315-2g515.html