Telstra chief executive Andy Penn on Wednesday announced the telecom giant is opening an innovation hub in Bangalore, India this year.
Mr Penn made this announcement in his keynote address at the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) lunch in Melbourne on Wednesday.
He said the competition for a skilled workforce was fierce and estimated Australia will have a shortfall of 60,000 skilled workers in the ICT sector in the next five years.
“That means we are having to recruit some of those capabilities on the global market, including in places like India.
“Given our urgent need, Telstra will be creating a new Telstra Innovation and Capability Centre in Bangalore, which will become operational later this year.
“Bangalore is India’s ‘Silicon Valley’ and even there we are competing for talent with the likes of Apple, Google and other digital companies.
“This Innovation and Capability Centre consolidates our presence in India where we already work with many partners and takes in house talent we previously sourced from third parties.
“It means we can quickly hire, develop and scale that talent across our business including back into Australia,” he said, following it up with his views on the on-going debate about cutting migrant intake in Australia.
Customers and assistants are seen in a Telstra store in Sydney Source: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
Calls for simplifying measures to attract the best talent to Australia
He called immigration a ‘vexed issue’ which has attracted an enormous amount of ‘political and media angst’.
“We need to build skills, not walls,” he said calling for an ongoing skilled migration policy for Australia.
“Skilled migrants bring ideas, they bring expertise and innovation, and they bring the capacity to train and skill their Australian colleagues. Skilled migrants also add to Australia’s wealth,” he said.
Mr Penn said a steady migration policy was essential for the country and companies like theirs.
"An ongoing skilled migration policy is essential for Australia and essential for Telstra to attract and recruit the right talent and capabilities we need to transform and compete effectively on a global stage.
"We support the continuation of policies that include measures which simplify and reduce administrative costs and serve to attract talent," he said.
Australia has recently reduced their migrant intake to about 160,000 migrants each year, despite having a cap of 190,000. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has indicated migrants could be asked to spend five years in a regional area if they want permanent residency, with states planning where the new migrants settle under potential changes to Australia’s national migration program.
Scott Morrison swapped by selfies at Diwali celebrations in Sydney. Source: SBS
