Digitising and upskilling Australia

Transcript

As we think of the Federal Budget, there are several levers here that can really move this agenda forward. In particular, investment around upskilling, investments in infrastructure and emerging technologies. And finally, incentives for businesses and communities across the country.

Today, every business is a technology business. Digitisation is really pushing these businesses to rethink every single dimension of their existence, how they access new markets, how they provide services, and how they reach new customers. But to do that, senior leaders must be able to be ready to reimagine what their organisation's place in this new world is.

Investments in automation are one of the fastest ways to improve efficiencies across every department. From marketing and sales and service to finance human resources and supply chain. And today, with the growing traction around AI and its ability to learn, adapt, and trigger action based on real time data, organisations can go beyond simply just automating repetitive tasks and to driving greater levels of productivity and personalisation.

To improve participation, we must evolve our education systems and programs. Policy makers, along with education providers and employers, could do more to improve basic STEM skills through the school systems, through on-the-job training. A new emphasis is needed on creativity, on critical thinking and systems thinking, on adaptive and lifelong learning. In addition to these investments in upskilling and re-skilling, we, employers, governments, we've got to also think about programs we need to put in place to attract women back into the workforce and retain that talent

Through establishing trust in digital, even as we capture the productivity benefits of these rapidly evolving technologies, we need to actively safeguard against the risks and dangers also posed by them. The use of data and our personal data in particular must always take into account issues around data security, around privacy, around malicious use, around bias, around protecting our citizens' digital identities. These are the issues that policy makers, technology firms, and businesses will need to find effective ways to address over the next several years.