The new group is co-chaired by Liberal MP Aaron Violi (left), teal independent MP Allegra Spender and Labor’s Jerome Laxale. Photos: Parliament of Australia.
A new cross-party Parliamentary Friendship Group has launched to make it easier for federal parliamentarians and the Australian tech industry to engage on economic and policy issues.
The Parliamentary Friends of Tech and Innovation is co-chaired by a tri-partisan group of first-term MPs: Labor’s Jerome Laxale, Liberal Aaron Violi and teal independent Allegra Spender.
The new group launched last week to an audience including representatives from Atlassian, Accenture, Cochlear, Google, Harrison.AI, SEEK and Xero. The companies were attending a briefing on the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence (AI) development and adoption in Australia, hosted by the Business Council of Australia and the peak body for Australia’s tech sector, the Tech Council of Australia (TCA).
TCA CEO Kate Pounder welcomed the new group, which intends to promote engagement and understanding between industry, investors and parliamentarians on tech, investment and innovation topics.
“Tech is critical to creating new jobs and growth in Australia. It’s also impacting a range of policy issues that the Parliament must consider,” she said.
“We need to make sure that the Parliament and industry work together on these critical national issues. We’re thrilled to see such strong support for tech and innovation.”
Ms Pounder said widespread parliamentary support would be crucial to create more tech jobs and take advantage of the opportunities of productivity-enhancing technologies such as AI.
“There is a huge appetite from all parts of the Parliament to better understand the opportunities of technologies such as AI and how to enable them, while appropriately managing the risks,” she said.
“Positioning Australia at the global forefront of these cutting-edge technologies and getting to 1.2 million tech jobs by 2030 will require a united national approach and close collaboration with industry.”
Ms Pounder said support from members around the country emphasised the benefits of technology investment and jobs for all Australians.
“There are already 935,000 Australians working in tech jobs and they can be found in every state and territory, from our capital cities out into our regional and remote communities,” she said. “Tech is contributing $167 billion annually to the national economy and this is growing every day.”
