The Australian Government has announced $1.2 billion for a Digital Economy Strategy as part of the Federal Budget, including a $50 million National Artificial Intelligence Centre within CSIRO. We asked 14 leaders in the tech industry what this means for women in tech, child care, AI, Up-skilling and innovation.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Amy Foo, Managing Director Australia and New Zealand, Zendesk, (Pictured above) says: “We are pleased to see the government’s focus on — and support for — Australia’s technology and innovation ecosystem in the 2021 Federal Budget that was handed down by the Treasurer last night.
“The Digital Economy strategy will help lay the foundations by building out the infrastructure and advancing our nation’s capabilities in emerging fields. Artificial intelligence has been earmarked as an area of focus, and one in which Zendesk is continuing to invest through our dedicated regional tech hub in Melbourne. These measures will help progress Australia’s digital transformation, allowing for more businesses to digitise their processes and more importantly, accelerate Australia’s economic recovery.
“At Zendesk, we know there is still work to be done in representing women in tech. We welcome the government’s incentives to help more women enter non-traditional industries through industry-focused STEM scholarships. These initiatives signal the significance of continued private-public collaboration that is needed to make real progress on diversity and inclusion, and boost economic opportunities for women.”
CEO and Co-Founder of Tellis Data, Michael Gately says: “It’s fantastic to see the Federal Budget include $1.2 billion for a Digital Economy Strategy, with $50 million dedicated to a National Artificial Intelligence Centre within CSIRO. Government funding is integral to the growth of our artificial intelligence sector, particularly as we know that Australia is currently lagging behind other key markets such as Asia, Europe and North America in both the development and adoption of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.
“With the right government support from both Federal and State level, we will be better placed to compete on the global stage as we move towards a digital future. This new funding announcement is a clear step in the right direction, and will encourage more exciting technology innovation from the Australian technology industry.”
CHILDCARE FOR WOMEN
Emma Pudney, Chief Technology Officer APJ at Rackspace Technology, says: “The Treasurer announced it’s making a targeted investment in childcare to increase the affordability of childcare for low‑ and middle‑income families. With childcare an important driver of higher workforce participation and women’s economic security, this is a promising commitment. It’s going to give more parents – especially women, not only the choice to take on extra work but to continue to be “working mums”.
“Women are faced with so many barriers when returning to work, including their own sense of guilt, the challenge of having the right skillset and competing in largely male dominated environments. Taking the cost of childcare out of the equation makes it one step easier for women to return to the workforce and establish successful careers.
“It’s also encouraging to see a record investment in skills and training. Organisations also need to be incentivised to implement tangible programs that encourage women to return to the workforce after having children, and help cross-skill women into more technical roles. There are businesses out there that consult and can help companies develop strategies and programs to do this. Organisations should be rewarded for demonstrating tangible results in this space.
“These changes strengthen our economy and provide greater choice to women.”
Carol Chris, Regional General Manager, Australia & New Zealand at GBG Plc says: “Diversity in technology has always been a challenge and the statistics show that in Australia the percentage of women in technical roles remains flat. In last night’s Federal Budget, the Morrison Government has pledged another $1.7 billion to improving childcare affordability for larger families, which is highly overdue.
“According to a survey conducted by The Parenthood in 2020, the high cost of childcare is one of the biggest deterrence for mothers of young children to return to paid work, or progress from part-time to full-time work. This impacts women’s career paths, in tech and many other industries, to have to choose between being mothers or being career-driven professionals. It is hopeful that this new pledge enables more women to have that option to return to work after having children, and have the opportunity and peace of mind to build their career and take on senior leadership positions.”
WOMEN IN STEM
Mina Radhakrishnan, :Different co-founder (and formerly Uber’s first Head of Product, Product Manager at Google and venture advisor) says: “This year’s budget announcement is an improvement from last year’s but there is still much more work to be done when it comes to creating an equitable workforce for women.
“I’ve worked in the tech industry in Australia and SF, and in both cities I have seen many high-performing women choose to leave the industry because it can be a toxic environment, riddled with pay gaps and a lack of opportunity to advance, often due to a lack of diverse leadership.
“Furthermore, framing the problem as purely a gender issue is problematic. The people who suffer most are lower paid workers and minorities, not just women, and more needs to be done to address these issues. If the government is serious about supporting women in work, and specifically those in the tech industry, an industry which has one of the biggest opportunities for growth, we need to:
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Stop perpetuating the myth that lack of diversity in technology is a pipeline problem
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Continue increasing funding to underrepresented minorities (not just women) for STEM programs, through scholarships and outreach — the announcement yesterday to invest $42.4 million over seven years to support more than 230 women to pursue Higher Level STEM Qualifications is a marginal commitment
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Reward companies who hire diversely and create supportive environments for their team
“Another benefit would be more paid child care subsidies with an emphasis on single parents. There’s a constant guilt in being a parent that you are trading off a child for work. Not to mention that it’s expensive and for many families, there is a hard decision to make about whether one parent should stay at home rather than pay for childcare. Despite it being 2021, there are still societal expectations that mums will take care of the kids and even more so for many immigrant families. There is a very real gender pay gap, so when it comes to making a hard decision about a parent staying home to take care of kids, women more often than not end up in the role of stay at home parent. While this isn’t the case for everyone, having more paid childcare support will enable women who wish to keep working more opportunity to accomplish their career ambitions, and set a great example for their children.”
Michelle Gallaher, CEO of health data analytics company Opyl, says: “As the co-founder of Women in STEMM Australia, the $42 million Boosting the Next Generation of Women in STEMM program is of considerable interest. Scholarships with the private sector favouring women is an excellent investment in creating greater equity and addressing the predominant masculine network bias. I have a deep interest as a private sector CEO to see this program implemented well, ensuring value is created for both the company and the individuals within the program.
“There is a wealth of talent in the STEMM sector in Australia and the inherently masculine network bias makes it significantly harder to identify female candidates. This is because fewer women are championed, women are more likely to hesitate in self-selecting for opportunities, the culture of the network and sector is often less supportive of women and the reliance upon a few well-networked STEMM women to identify, inform and champion the whole sector is too heavy and inherently unfair.
“It is a tremendous responsibility being one of the go-to people when someone wants to find outstanding female candidates for a role and the usual searches are not yielding diversity or depth. But it is about time a more strategic, equitable and fair system to identify and champion emerging STEMM women is implemented. This makes me feel optimistic that change is starting to gain traction. I’ll be one of the first to sign up as our company is growing and I’m looking for the best possible candidates for a number of new roles in the coming months. And I know that to find the best candidates I have to look deeper and reach into more networks.”
Francesca Pinzone, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, Umbo says: “This morning women across Australia were searching online for information related to the federal budget. We were looking for the affirmation that calls for change after the last six months of appalling performance by the Federal Government in relation to women’s issues.
“Today – we can see $3 billion allocated towards women, $1.7 billion towards childcare and the remainder across women’s security, safety, workforce development and various other issues. Whilst the previous budget reminded women to be grateful that we had roads to drive on, this budget we are seeing support for women in the field of science, maths and technology and significant spend in aged care and superannuation changes.
“For organisations like Umbo that are tech based solutions, we applaud the allocation of $25.7m into STEM for women. However, without reviewing this increase in the context of women’s ecosystems and lives, the funding will be redundant. The ability for women to participate in the workforce is often dependent on childcare. Despite the government telling us otherwise, childcare is not only a women’s issue! It is remiss to continually see women as the only recipients of the child care budget changes.
“The high cost of childcare in Australia limits women’s participation in the workforce, and the subsidy model dissuades women who have a higher earning capacity to re-enter the workforce because it can be cheaper to stay at home. This means that women have lower income, are out of the workforce longer, therefore have lower earning capacity than their male counterparts – and not to mention lower superannuation.
“Rather than $1.7 billion allocated to subsidisation of childcare (only for those with 2 or more children), solving the root cause of the problem would have a more systemic effect on women’s ability to participate in the workforce.Furthermore, it would be conducive to enabling women to take advantage of budget allocations like those delivered last night towards women’s advancements in science, maths and tech.”
Dionne Niven, Chief People Officer, SiteMinder, says: Compared to past budgets, this Federal Budget has revealed some of the most extensive measures for women-focused investments we’ve seen. It’s positive to see the Government recognising the importance of uplifting the women of Australia, and acting on its responsibility to address a number of the issues women face today.
“From the changes to the childcare cap to the increased support for women of domestic violence, each initiative is a welcomed investment that will make significant changes to the ability for women to thrive and better participate in the workforce, especially as changes to the way Australians work see us spending more time in the home.
“As the economy rebounds from the pandemic, it’s a good sign that this budget has dedicated funding to support women in science, maths and technology too. However, the allocated budget of $42.4 million over seven years to support only 230 women is hardly enough to drive real change. The issue of low female participation in these fields is much deeper, and the government must do better at tackling it at its roots. This means getting into schools and investing in our future generations, so that young women are empowered to pursue a career in industries like tech which not only remains dominated by men, but is challenged by a huge tech talent shortage in Australia and would benefit from a boost in women candidates.”
Francesca Pinzone, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, Umbo, says: “This morning women across Australia were searching online for information related to the federal budget. We were looking for the affirmation that calls for change after the last six months of appalling performance by the Federal Government in relation to women’s issues.
“Today – we can see $3 billion allocated towards women, $1.7 billion towards childcare and the remainder across women’s security, safety, workforce development and various other issues. Whilst the previous budget reminded women to be grateful that we had roads to drive on, this budget we are seeing support for women in the field of science, maths and technology and significant spend in aged care and superannuation changes.
“For organisations like Umbo that are tech based solutions, we applaud the allocation of $25.7m into STEM for women. However, without reviewing this increase in the context of women’s ecosystems and lives, the funding will be redundant. The ability for women to participate in the workforce is often dependent on childcare. Despite the government telling us otherwise, childcare is not only a women’s issue! It is remiss to continually see women as the only recipients of the child care budget changes.
“The high cost of childcare in Australia limits women’s participation in the workforce, and the subsidy model dissuades women who have a higher earning capacity to re-enter the workforce because it can be cheaper to stay at home. This means that women have lower income, are out of the workforce longer, therefore have lower earning capacity than their male counterparts – and not to mention lower superannuation.
“Rather than $1.7 billion allocated to subsidisation of childcare (only for those with 2 or more children), solving the root cause of the problem would have a more systemic effect on women’s ability to participate in the workforce.Furthermore, it would be conducive to enabling women to take advantage of budget allocations like those delivered last night towards women’s advancements in science, maths and tech.”
INNOVATION
Angela Logan-Bell, Director Strategic Partnerships and Alliances APJ at Rackspace Technology,says: “The Federal Government has pledged a ‘patent box’ tax incentive scheme, designed to encourage investment in medical and biotech innovation. In an effort to boost commercialisation and retain IP in Australia, this is a great win for local R&D activities. We want to see more innovation commercialised in Australia however, this commitment doesn’t go far enough.
“There’s no doubt of the importance medical and biotech innovation contribute to our society, but what we need is economical support from the ground up for all tech start-ups – including a policy review to allow techstart-ups to be able to break through government red tape. Fostering this level of innovation will bring about growth in the tech industry and reduce the length of development. With patents already taking up to seven years or so to be approved, it’s inhibiting our techstart-ups now.
“To effectively scale and be on the world stage, we should be offering tax incentives beyond one industry. Australia has every opportunity to become an incubation for development and lead the way and work as a growth region for tech jobs and digital transformation.
“In the US, it’s a badge of honour for universities, businesses and local governments to be associated with successful start-ups. In Australia we only hear about start-ups once they reach success overseas. For the likes of Afterpay or Canva, it wasn’t till they grew internationally that we embraced them. We need to back our tech start-ups – and that starts from the top.
“We also need change the perspective of where tech stands and could stand in regards to business growth in Australia. We’re always focus on mining, banking and construction as job creators but there are immense opportunities in the tech industry. We need to see a focus on tech in order to change the perspective in the eyes of investment. Ultimately, our tech start-ups should not be sidelined. We need to see more noise around success in tech and celebrate our own tech start-ups that are shaping our future.”
Matthew Day, Vice President of APJ at Elastic, says in regards to the Government’s Digital Economy Strategy: “It is very encouraging to see the government announce its $1.2 billion funding into the digital economy. According to NAB’s Quarterly Business Results Survey, the Australian economy is bouncing back from the pandemic, and the continued investment in tech, security, and innovation is a necessity to ensure Australian businesses can prosper in the global economy.”
“$100 million will be devoted to the development of digital skills, which our recent study with Forrester shows is a number one priority for CIOs working to accelerate the digitisation of their organizations.”
“Possibly the most significant area for investment is the nation’s cybersecurity. Alongside the government’s push to develop more secure technologies, let’s not overlook the human factor that is a dominant issue in malicious or criminal attacks. The shift to remote working due to the pandemic has weakened the perimeter security for many organizations. Between July and December 2020 alone, the Office of the Australian Information Commission reported a 20% hike in breaches caused by human error. Building trust and confidence in the digital economy will also require organizations to invest in safeguarding their data and systems with more advanced endpoint security and employee education on secure information handling practices.”
DATA
Tim Poskitt, Country Manager – ANZ at Envestnet | Yodlee, a leading data aggregation and data analytics platform, says in regard to the Consumer Data Right: “Open banking has the potential to completely revolutionise the future of finance and how consumers engage with banks and financial service providers.
“It has the power to help Aussies make more informed decisions on their finances, and give FinTechs and finance companies the ability to innovate faster with the use of accurate, user-permissioned financial data. There is, however, a long way to go until the use of open banking is ubiquitous – and investment into its deployment is of paramount importance.
“As such, I am delighted that the government has committed significant funding into expanding the rollout of the Consumer Data Right, which we recently became an accredited member of. This will help in the overall goal of accelerating open banking in Australia, which will put Australian consumers in greater control of their financial standing, and further enhance the nation’s burgeoning finance sector.”
UPSKILLING
Mike Featherstone, Managing Director, APAC & ANZ at Pluralsight says: “Digital transformation continues to drive change around the world with markets betting big on the digital economy and driving investment into upskilling workers. While there are some very encouraging signs in the 2021-22 Budget announcement including a $1.2 billion investment in the Digital Economy Strategy, a significant gap remains in the form of a clear pathway to technology skills development. Few things in business are predictable—as we’ve witnessed firsthand in the past year—but one thing is for certain: your tech strategy is your business strategy—and you can’t have a winning tech strategy without a mature skills strategy.
“Neglecting the development of digital skills within Australia leaves the country reliant on attracting global talent that is both in high demand in every market, and unrealistic in our current climate bound by COVID’s restrictions on travel. While some investment has been made, much more will be required if Australia hopes to become a leading digital economy by 2030.”
Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) CEO Ron Gauci says: “With long held skills shortages in Australia’s ICT sector, the AIIA’s Skills Hub is one measure to help improve the supply of skilled Australian workers as well as mapping employee skills to career pathways and relevant training courses. The AIIA Skills Hub is in active discussions with an additional 15 universities and TAFEs as well as industry courses from leading technology companies. Once these are onboarded, the AIIA Skills Hub will exceed 5,000 courses available to members by the end of 2021.”
Scott McKinnel, ANZ Country Manager at Tenable says:“We’ve been talking about the cyber skills gap for years yet the need for these professionals continues to skyrocket in Australia. We know that cyber technology skills play an integral role in our continued economic growth, and it’s positive to see this finally recognised in this year’s Budget. In addition to the $26.5 million grants program launched earlier this year, the $43.8 million investment to expand the Cyber Security Skills Partnership Innovation Fund is a great step forward to ensuring Australia has the skills it needs to stay secure and support reducing unemployment.
“While creating entry-level cybersecurity roles is a step in the right direction, immediate action can be taken by reskilling existing staff and making this a priority across both the government and private sectors. Ultimately, you cannot defend your organisation without cybersecurity professionals who are skilled in tackling the relentless cyber threats lingering in front of us.
“In addition, the government’s focus on this Budget to increase women’s participation in the workforce is fantastic to see. Across all industries, diversity of thought and experience is vital, and this is no less the case within cybersecurity. A lack of diversity is a threat to our collective success. By encouraging a more diverse workforce within the cybersecurity industry, we have a better chance of thinking outside the box and staying ahead of cyberattackers.”
