The Honourable Andrew Fraser
23/01/2011
IT appeal helping Queenslanders reconnect
A website has been launched for donations of spare PCs, printers and other computer equipment to help flood-affected Queensland small businesses and other organisations get back online.
Treasurer and Minister for Employment and Economic Development Andrew Fraser said members of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) were working in partnership with the Queensland IT Flood Relief Programme
to coordinate donations.
"Many small and medium-sized businesses lost valuable equipment and it's vitally important they can get back online as soon as possible," Mr Fraser said.
"The Queensland IT Flood Relief team is a group of volunteers that is collecting spare PCs, printers and servers from companies across Australia.
"They will service and rebuild them and supply to needy business people throughout Queensland."
Businesses, sole traders, schools or organisations that have lost IT equipment in the floods can register on the website.
Queensland AIIA chair Simon Williams said they were working with the Queensland IT Flood Relief Programme to distribute donated equipment and set up temporary offices.
"AIIA members such as Cisco, Telstra, Microsoft, Optus and Data#3 are working with Nova 106.9 FM to set up fully serviced temporary offices in Brisbane and Ipswich to enable small businesses to get back to work," Mr Williams said.
"In this way we're helping small businesses and the economy to rebuild."
Mr Fraser congratulated the AIIA for taking the initiative to drive the programme to support the economy.
"The AIIA members have been working with the Queensland Government throughout the flood crisis, and this is another example of their support," Mr Fraser said.
"I urge all businesses and anyone at all who can donate any computer equipment to get behind this initiative."
If you can donate any of the following please do so ASAP to allow the team time to process the donations:
• Computers - PCs, Macs, laptops, etc
• Servers or networking equipment
• Spare parts - cases, hard drives, memory, cables, etc.
• Printers
• Phones/PBX system
• Tools (to allow us to do our job)
• Software
• Anything else you think will help.
They also need help to transport equipment, are calling for volunteers with IT knowledge who can help clean, repair and rebuild equipment.
The Queensland ICT industry is made up of about 5,700 businesses, employs a direct workforce of almost 70,000 people, and generates revenues of about $29 billion and exports of $1.15billion annually.
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