From catch up to leadership: Resetting Australia’s tech agenda

Despite growing momentum across the private sector, technology policy took a back seat in the lead-up to the recent Federal election, which was a point of frustration for many. Now that the election is behind us and a government is in place with a clear mandate, there is a renewed opportunity to put technology at the centre of Australia's policy agenda.

Technology will be key to the country's future prosperity, with artificial intelligence poised to deliver change on par with the invention of the silicon chip and the rise of the internet. To stay competitive and unlock long-term national benefit, government must move beyond rhetoric and adopt practical, forward-looking measures that support innovation, drive productivity, and build public trust.

1. Increase investment in technology and workers

As a digital transformation company one of the hand-brakes we consistently hit with clients is the greater incentive organisations have to invest capital expenditure on physical infrastructure rather than operating expenditure on intangibles. Organisations prioritise investments in physical infrastructure due to depreciation benefits, inadvertently sidelining technology workers and innovation.

Instead, people writing and maintaining working software should be considered as part of the infrastructure of modern business. By changing depreciation accounting policies to recognise software development and its maintenance, Treasury, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) and the Australian Accounting Standard Board (AASB) could incentivise investment in technology and boost employment, technology adoption and international competitiveness. 

2. Create an Australian education data platform

Effective policy coordination is hindered by the complexity of numerous stakeholders across sectors and jurisdictions. With shared data platforms removing silos, an Australian Education Data Platform would enhance decision-making, collaboration and policy across early childhood, K-12, higher education and skills. Some of the building blocks such as the National Schools Interoperability Program, Schools Interoperability Framework and the Unique Student Identifier system are already in place.

A key challenge is overcoming citizens' discomfort with data sharing between government departments. Our upcoming Digital Citizen report reveals that only one in four Australians are completely comfortable with government data sharing. Building greater trust will require clear, transparent communication about how data sharing can deliver tangible benefits to individuals and communities.

3. Proactive grants system 

Current grant systems are reactive, inefficient, and can magnify an already desperate situation by demanding citizen-initiated applications. In addition, the cost of reactive compliance assessment and the need to investigate false negatives impose unnecessary cost on the taxpayer. In many cases, government has the data to completely reverse the paradigm. Proactive grants are founded on using structured and unstructured data to identify people eligible for government funding support, then reaching out directly with details and a pro-active payment.

In the case of bushfires or floods, a combination of land ownership data, planning overlays, rates data, Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) codes, business registry data and event impact data can be fused into a predictive eligibility model. Shifting to a proactive model that uses existing data for predictive eligibility can streamline grant distribution for disaster relief and other areas, reducing fraud and compliance costs while enabling real-time reporting. Showing the benefits of proactive government services would also help to improve citizen perceptions of more agile and effective government services.  

A recent successful example of this was in a bushfire emergency, where the Office of Local Government wanted to pay council rates for those affected. By taking council rate data and matching it with impact data, they were able to do this immediately without the need and delay for citizens to apply, provide evidence and be assessed.

4. Develop a citizen-centric policy core 

One thing that has stood out after 30 years of cutting-edge digital initiatives has been that success and impact of technology projects hinges on solving human problems. Starting with the user in mind, or Human-Centred Design (HCD) is a discipline becoming more common in public sector service design, although progress has been slow.

Governments should go further and embrace HCD methods in policy creation and reform, embracing them upstream into the policy core of government - treasury processes, Cabinet submissions, legislative reform and interdepartmental missions. This includes emphasising co-design with affected citizens to address critical missions such as prosperity, climate change and security. Introducing the citizen, the parent, the business owner, the child, the investor, the teacher into the core of the technology policy-making process would be a revolution. 

5. Technology is policy, not just infrastructure  

Australia's productivity growth has lagged in recent decades, stagnating since the COVID pandemic. Following the recent election, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has acknowledged flatlining productivity, recognising the link between productivity, innovation and prosperity to "make a meaningful difference in boosting wages and living standards sustainably into the future".

While technology is now at the centre of this Venn diagram, technology policy is still only being understood and explained through the lens of other domains such as communications, defence or industry.  This reflects a policy mindset that views technology as an external force to be studied and adapted to, rather than a policy instrument to be shaped to our aims.

Survey data from our upcoming 2025 Digital Citizen report also shows that Australians resoundingly want government not just to study and adapt but to be an active steward especially in regulating emerging technology. AI will play an enormous role in the nation's productivity over the coming years and its well-balanced regulation will be crucial. The report reveals that 79% of Australians want moderate to tight regulation of AI.

Articulating a unified vision of technology as it relates to Australian society, economy, environment and security would support improved co-ordination between players (politicians, private sector, education, treasury, media and trade partners). These measures represent necessary steps towards a future-ready Australia, positioning technology as a central pillar of national growth and resilience.