IIA seeks election pledges for tech startups

The Internet Industry Association is calling on both sides of politics to create an environment that is "conducive" to investment in emerging IT sectors like cloud computing.

CEO Peter Lee today accused both sides of politics of "overlooking the potential of Australia's technology future by not providing adequate incentives for innovative startups".

Instead, politicians were "distracted" by the downturn in Australia's fortunes in the resources sector, and by "propping up non-competitive manufacturing industries", Lee said.

While there are some broad digital policies in existence, "we need to see some definitive commitments and results", Lee said.

Lee welcomed a Coalition commitment to change taxation of employee share options, and called for a similar commitment from Labor, believing changes would benefit startups seeking to remunerate their staff.

"We would like to hear and have confidence that the Labor Party understands the importance of immediate reform in this area," Lee said.

The IIA expected the future government to do much more to benefit Australian technology startups, including provision of "tax incentives, co-investment programs, alternative equity funding schemes" and support for incubators.