English for Academic

While on one hand the gove rnment is keen to build its credentials promoting Australia as a good place to do business for Indian and o ther multinational companie s, on the other band, a grab for cash b y removing the tax benefits related to Living Away From Horne Allowance (LAHFA) as per the current budget, will be a serious detriment co lndian companies sending their top profess ionals ro work in Australia.

L1 a global marketplace where countries are competing for top talent to en h ance their l ocal workforce skills and business opportunities, shutting this perk could be another shorts ighted measure by the Gillard government. LAFHJ\ is paid to overseas workers on a tax -free basis to all.ow them to meet their expenses and ro an extent, compensate them for other d,arges (such as cost of children's education even in the public sch ool system) which they pay as overseas residents.

It is to be remembered that it was under Julia Gillard's tenure as die Minister for Education chat the

E nrol ments have fal1e n, colleges have closed, srudeors have faced and continue to face w1cerrainties, and a number of ln dian bus in esses have closed down due to tl1e slowdown in new student arrivals.

Indian IT co mpanies SLtcb as Infosys, Wipro, TCS, 1-ICL and other l ASSCOM Australia members a re active contributors co the Australian economy. Witl1 a combined workforce of over 10,000, t hese companies employ Indian IT workers ro work on projects in Australia. By doing so, they are able to crossover Iodian IT skills with rneir local Australian workforce, and allow for a h igh level of skills transfer. NASSCOM Australia member companies have currentl y invested upwards of $100111 to set up more than 20 development centres in Australia; they have strong links with man y univers ities in Australia to recmic students for global projects, run student internships programmes and bave esrablished scho larships.

All tlus is under scan now as these companies, w luch provide back up services to various Australian compa1ues such as Telstra, Qantas, Westpac,