Leadership Matters
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg wants tech giants to call Australia home
Excerpt from The West Australian by Danielle Le Messurier
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg wants tech giants like Zoom to set up their headquarters in Australia to help the country prepare for the massive role technology will continue to play after COVID-19.
Speaking just over two weeks out from the Federal Budget, Mr Frydenberg on Thursday questioned how his Government could capitalise on the “digital transformation” that has taken place during the pandemic. He said this was evident in the massive take-up of telehealth services, online shopping and people working from home.
“A big factor in our thinking about setting up the Australian economy is, how do we capitalise on the digital transformation taking place and changing the way we work, the way we communicate and indeed the way we travel?” Mr Frydenberg said at The West Australian’s Leadership Matters event.
StartupWA advisory board chair Peter Rossdeutscher said he saw small business and startups as the “engine room of innovation”.
“Obviously we need to build future skills, so we need to look at how do we bring more people and kids through STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) streams, and how do we incubate more startups to grow and bring in that digital transformation,” Mr Rossdeutscher said.
Australian Information Industry Association chief executive officer Ron Gauci said the Federal and State governments needed to focus on education to ensure workers and businesses understand what digitisation involves.
“What’s required is a national strategic plan about how we become a digital economy by 2030,” Mr Gauci said.
