It's not just in IT. In most technical, engineering, and manufacturing concerns Australia has a distinct colonial cringe, particularly where finance and management is concerned. "We just can't do it as well as <insert name> can."
And as far as the government (state or federal) is concerned, an expert can only be someone from overseas with a briefcase. Hence we have expensive blowouts on "consultants." The Health Commision ordained report on Hospital Services a decade ago was so expensive that Flinders Medical Centre technically went broke funding it's share of it (and it had no choice in the matter). It included such junkets as monthly trips back to the US and weekly trips back to Melbourne for the consultants. And for the RAH, they basically added their cover to an internally funded report by a local management consultancy...
Sorry for being vehement, but I've worked on too many teams that had to fight uphill to get their products recognised locally, but which were eagerly sought after overseas. In fact it was easier for me to work in Europe as a troubleshooter than locally. <sigh>
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And as far as the government (state or federal) is concerned, an expert can only be someone from overseas with a briefcase. Hence we have expensive blowouts on "consultants." The Health Commision ordained report on Hospital Services a decade ago was so expensive that Flinders Medical Centre technically went broke funding it's share of it (and it had no choice in the matter). It included such junkets as monthly trips back to the US and weekly trips back to Melbourne for the consultants. And for the RAH, they basically added their cover to an internally funded report by a local management consultancy...
Sorry for being vehement, but I've worked on too many teams that had to fight uphill to get their products recognised locally, but which were eagerly sought after overseas. In fact it was easier for me to work in Europe as a troubleshooter than locally. <sigh>