This would be the most stupid piece I have heard but it is the old cry from the US wages are too high. Don't you fellows sing any other tune. News flash this is not the US we are not used to servant wages
Australias high cost of living is the biggest hurdle facing companies trying to attract senior technical staff like software engineers, says the billionaire co-founder of software developer Atlassian.
Mike Cannon-Brookes, whose US-listed company is now worth more than $US5 billion ($A6.66 billion), says the most important thing in the technology sector is to have highly-educated people with the right talent, but attracting them to Australia is difficult.
The biggest challenge, fundamentally, is the cost of living in Australia is extremely high, Mr Cannon-Brookes told the Australian Financial Review Business Summit on Tuesday.
Atlassian founder Mike Cannon-Brookes. Photo: James Alcock
He said Australias high cost of housing, transport and education was a significant factor when people from overseas considered taking a job in Australia, or elsewhere.
Junior staff out of the US or the UK were not so hard to attract because they were young, single and adventurous.
But as soon as they begin moving up the chain, it becomes progressively harder for us to get them in, Mr Cannon-Brookes said.
So, whatever we can do to change that cost of living would make a big difference.
Mr Cannon-Brookes said to reduce the cost of living, one had to unlevel the playing field, by doing things like offering tax breaks to technical experts who were probably only going to work in Australia for a few years and not use things such as the welfare safety net or be heavy users of Medicare.
another news flash! we are not a third world county and we don't give tax breaks to wankers, particuraly those from teh US who can't find the exit without a sign
Click for Full Text!