Vox pop: What do you think of the 2019 Federal Budget?

Harry Kassianou, director of sales, AC3

The impact of cyber security is the most prominent element of the Federal Budget for the IT industry. The Government has an intense focus in this space, which creates the opportunity for our industry to develop and support these initiatives, ensuring the Federal Government delivers on their commitments to citizens.

Another important element is the additional tax cuts which will be available to medium sized organisations (those with up to $50 million turnover). This will unlock additional capital that many of those organisations will look to invest in, optimising their business and delivering on outcomes – two things which are usually powered by technology.

If you consider the budget overall, many of the Federal Government initiatives will require great investment in technology to ensure the potential of these initiatives are truly realised, especially the likes of infrastructure projects and enhanced cities.

Arthur Marinis, managing director, Base2services

The budget has little to no impact to our business in Australia. The changes seem to be more directed to companies with big expense items (such as a $30K write off).

Using cloud technologies, it is unlikely we will see the benefit. However, the good news is that we can be more aggressive on the export market with the free trade agreements recently signed.

Where we see the biggest benefit is in the tax cuts for professionals. These tax cuts will encourage more purchases of our predominately SaaS based customers’ solutions.

Chris Marshall, managing director, blueAPACHE

This year’s budget offers little material value that will help drive Australia’s global competitiveness.

The modest increase in EMDG funding [Export Market Development Grants] doesn’t go far enough to offset the reduced value of the Australian dollar and the increase in participation.

Coupled with a funding cap that is forecast to deliver less than 30 percent of eligible funding to participants, and stringent requirements, organisations like blueAPACHE are turning away from the scheme.

At a time when Australia’s economy is shifting away from resources and residential housing, this is a missed opportunity to support local companies committed to exporting Australian goods services and technology.