Australia’s leading tech companies have banded together to form the Tech Council Of Australia, in a move to position Australia as a potential global tech hub, like Silicon Valley.
The goal is to have one million jobs in the sector by 2025. According to the Tech Council, that figure currently sits at 861,000. They also want to see economic output reach $250 billion within a decade.
Afterpay, Airtasker, Atlassian, Canva, Google Australia, Tesla, and Microsoft Australia are involved in the push, with Atlassian CEO Scott Farquhar, Tesla chair Robyn Denholm, and Afterpay co-founder Anthony Eisen on the Board.
Eisen wants to make Australia the “head office for global tech companies.”
The Tech Council has today unveiled its ten point plan to achieve this goals, a plan which “focuses on encouraging growth and investment, creating jobs and pathways into them, and having Australia become a leader in digital economy regulation.”
The plan includes three main areas:
Growth
Create and grow more new businesses by addressing early-stage company funding gaps and creating more ‘shots on goal’ for high-growth companies
Incentivise investment and business growth, e.g. through Research and Development Incentives, defining sophisticated investor and broadening ESIC
Support tech take-up by Australian businesses across the economy to lift productivity
Talent
Achieve 1 million tech sector jobs by 2025
Grow the pipeline of skilled workers and pathways into tech sector jobs
Refine Employee Share Scheme rules keep and reward Australian talent
Target skilled migration programs by improving availability of the GTES visa and re-evaluating processes for allocation of TSS Visas
Regulation
Be a digital economy regulation leader by encouraging the safe and early introduction of new products and services with fit-for-purpose regulation
Institute clear and proportionate frameworks for privacy and data protection
Pass security laws that protect but don’t unnecessarily inhibit
