Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to the Member for Casey for proposing this motion. I understand he has a background in a tech startup and is one of the few parliamentarians who has some experience of tech and running a business, especially the risks faced by businesses and startups. We need more of that experience in this place.

Much of Australia's tech sector is based in my electorate of Wentworth. A constant message I hear from the industry is that they need to feel better heard and understood by our parliamentarians and our bureaucrats less the opportunities that their businesses present leave us passed. Too often decisions which affect them are being made without their input or full understanding of the implications for the industry. This is a problem for an industry which is an increasingly important part of our economy.

The technology sector contributes around $100 billion to GDP and makes up about five per cent of the Australian economy, a share that is growing quickly and will continue to grow quickly into the future. It will continue to grow quickly because there is enormous promise and potential in Australian technology. That potential will become obvious as more local startups follow in the footsteps of others who are succeeding on the world stage. But the real potential is longer term.

We have the creativity, the talent and resources for technology to contribute so much more to our economy and our society. The sector's future is bright, but harnessing this potential is going to take work—work from industry, certainly, but also work from government and educators because the interaction between the sector and the government is far from perfect. While many of the frictions are small, they add up and they hold us back. That's why the technology community, represented by the Tech Council, are calling for change. They're calling for a talent pipeline to bring gifted people from around the world to contribute to Australia's tech future. I have to say that this is a message I've heard firsthand from some of Australia's leading technology entrepreneurs. They need the chance to bring the best of technology talent into this country so that we can really be at the forefront of this economic opportunity. They are calling for better, clearer regulation and regulatory frameworks that protect data and privacy while enabling innovation and growth. And, again, so many in the tech sector see that Australia is behind the curve in terms of its regulatory environment in technology—too much businesses are actually leading while government and bureaucrats are left behind. We have to change this so that government is properly informed about the appropriate regulatory framework for Australian businesses, not only to harness the opportunity but also to protect Australian consumers and businesses. Better targeted incentives will address the gaps in commercialising Australian innovations.

These are enormous challenges, but I want to talk about my experience as the chief executive officer of the Australian Business and Community Network, a network of 200 low socioeconomic status schools and over 40 big businesses, many of them technology based. What was absolutely clear was that the enormous opportunity in technology is not being addressed in our education system, and that means particularly the disadvantaged kids in our community are missing out. They see themselves as consumers of tech but don't necessarily have the capability to be the creators of technology, and that is the change that needs to happen. During the pandemic, up to 50 per cent of kids in the schools that I worked with didn't have access to data and devices to be able to learn online, and that is just an example; it flowed through to all sorts of other technology skills. According to the principals and educators that I worked with, the answer is the pairing of education and business. Business is leading, at the forefront of tech, but education needs to work closely with business so that kids and young people are ready to take those advantages. I think that is one of the key opportunities of this government and future governments if we are truly going to enable technology growth to be inclusive, which is what it has to be, and ensure that technology growth achieves the best possible economic outcomes.

I support many of the principles of the Albanese government's action on technology—for instance, supporting small-business investment in technology upgrades—but I think there are also opportunities there. I recommend to the government that it consider bringing the digital economy under one ministerial oversight. I think that would be really valuable. The government needs to truly listen to the industry, not just consult it, for us to get the economic benefits of technology. We need to be at the forefront of good regulation in technology, not just absorbing it from overseas, and we need to ensure that business and education work together to enable young people to thrive in the digital economy, because AI plus human interaction is the greatest opportunity.

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