Media release
The Tech Council of Australia welcomes the significant continued investment in Australia’s tech sector announced in the federal budget that supports small business digital adoption, skills, and our goal of getting more Australian workers into the tech sector.
“We applaud the measures announced in the federal budget that support the growing job opportunity in the tech sector. These measures will assist our goal of having 1.2 million people in tech jobs by 2030,” Tech Council of Australia CEO Kate Pounder said.
“Achieving this goal will help more Australian workers get high-paid, secure and flexible jobs.”
“We want to be an industry that creates great jobs for Australians and partners with governments to make sure Australians have the skills and support to get into them”. Ms Pounder said.
“We welcome the significant investment in small business digital adoption through the Technology Investment Boost and the Skills and Training Boost. These measures will help small businesses to grow and increase their productivity, and to invest in improving tech skills in areas such as cyber security.”
“Businesses that invested in technology during the pandemic were more likely to stay open, recover more quickly and create more jobs. This tax incentive will help small businesses grow even further and keep creating jobs as we come out of the pandemic.”
“This measure will level the playing field for small businesses looking to invest in technology and boost their productivity.”
One of the key budget measures that directly supports the tech sector is the change to Australia’s Employee Share Schemes (ESS) regulatory framework.
“We welcome the commitment to simplify the ESS framework. This will let Australian companies offer equity to more employees, particularly junior staff members. It’s important for up and coming Australian companies to help them attract, retain and reward workers during a time of skills shortages.” Ms Pounder said.
“This reform will create jobs. Workers that receive shares in companies that scale can found their own companies with the proceeds, which then creates more Australian companies and jobs.”
“The reform to the ESS framework will put Australian companies on an equal footing with global competitors, who already use ESS to attract top talent. This is more critical than ever as we encourage talent to transfer and retrain into the tech industry.” she said.
Another important measure announced in the federal budget is aimed at re-skilling women into the technology sector. As part of the Government’s Digital Economy Strategy, the government will provide $3.9 million over 2 years to support women to pursue career opportunities in the tech sector.
“Our research shows that women are most likely to enter tech jobs between the age of 25 and 30 years old. This initiative represents an important initial contribution to help more women make that transition, given only 1 in 4 tech workers are women.”
“Getting more women into tech jobs is a great deal for women as tech jobs are amongst the best-paid, most secure and most flexible in the country. The gender pay gap is also half that of other high-paying jobs.” Ms Pounder said.
“What we have in our industry is a trifecta of secure, well-paid, flexible jobs available to all people regardless of background or education. We want Australians to aspire to a job in our industry, and we want to help them find the pathway into their career.”
We also recognise other significant measures for our sector including those relating to cyber-security and research commercialisation. We will examine these measures in detail and look forward to continuing to work with government on these important initiatives.
The Tech Council of Australia actively works to partner with governments to make sure every Australian can have access to a well-paid, secure, flexible job.
About the TCA
The Technology Council of Australia launched in 2021 with a clear vision to ensure the tech sector plays a critical role in Australia’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The TCA has said the biggest and most urgent risk to the goal of employing one million people in tech sector jobs by 2025 is acute labour shortages facing the tech sector. That means we must act now to ensure we can fill the new tech jobs we’re creating in Australia over the next four years. Three goals for the tech sector in Australia:
- Employ 1.2 million people in tech-related jobs by 2030
- Contribute $250 billion to GDP from tech-related activity by 2030
- Make Australia the best place to start and scale a company
Media enquiries
Sofia Polak, Harry Communications
media@techcouncil.com.au
0434 275 449
