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There are benefits to the local software industry in supporting open, non-proprietary platforms for the development of e-commerce. Government, as a key user of information and communications technology, can set an example to the community by encouraging the use of open platforms.
The Coalition supports open systems and interoperability which are central to the principles of open source software development.
In 1999, the Coalition's amendments to permit decompilation of computer software for purposes including interoperability brought Australian copyright law into line with that of our major trading partners, and allowed Australian software developers to compete on a level playing field with US and UK counterparts for the first time.
The amendments support open source software and interoperability by allowing software developers to reverse engineer copyright-protected software for certain purposes including interoperability, error correction and security testing. Importantly, the Coalition also legislated to ensure that contractual licence terms which seek to override these provisions and prohibit reverse engineering are void. In addition, other provisions ensure that copyright owners cannot use technological protections to prevent legitimate reverse engineering.
The Greens recognise the importance of collaboration and innovation to Australia's and the world's future sustainable economic development. The Greens support efforts (such as the Open Source movement) which increase collaboration and oppose the further monopolisation of intellectual property of all forms.
The Greens strongly support the role of higher education (especially TAFE) in the provision of targetted education to address the needs of all Australian industries. The starvation of the TAFE (and university) system by the current and previous governments will result in the loss of Australia's skill base if not reversed. Increased funding for Education, particularly TAFE is central to Greens policy.