Labor’s Ed Husic Criticises Government Innovation Strategy
First 5000 | September 20, 2017
Labor’s Shadow Minister for the Digital Economy, Ed Husic, has criticised the government’s approach to economic innovation at an AFR Innovation Summit in Sydney. Despite the announcement of a consultation paper towards the Government’s new Digital Economy Strategy by Federal Industry Minister Arthur Sinodinos, Mr Husic believes the government is “going quiet” on acknowledging Australia’s concerns regarding incipient digital disruption and doing little to lead the required national debate.
In a keynote address, he called for ‘cross silo’ conversations to prepare industries for technological change and debate around a ‘smarter nation’ to gain community support. He saw the Government’s current stance as “missed opportunity and a hastily patched response” which will leave the costs of change to be borne by employees and “smaller players” such as the mid-sized business community. He proclaimed the need for “a better way” as Malcolm Turnbull’s contention that there has ‘never being a more exciting time to be alive’ cannot hide the fact that “the joke is actually on us.”
Mr Husic castigated the government for avoiding the conversation and downplaying its initial enthusiasm for an ‘Ideas Boom’ and its National Innovation and Science Agenda. He said former Prime Minister Tony Abbot had been a “short sighted vandal” in supporting the post-election relegation of innovation issues and had ‘spooked’ a Prime Minister who should have known better. He urged the Government to re-emphasise the need for a more agile and innovative nation and embrace risk to encourage venture capital investment, rather than retreating from the debate.
He accepted the need for a consultation process to develop the Digital Economy Strategy due for release early next year and agreed that “having the major political parties focus on the evolution of our digital economy – along with preparing for the future of work – is hugely important”. However he ridiculed the Government for appearing “addicted to the notion that reports equal action. It says it will release a strategy in the New Year, but you have to wonder if this will be managed by a new, later to be announced taskforce, that will report on the report”.
However, while he slammed government inaction, he offered few fresh proposals of his own. Both major parties would agree on the need for Australia to “build the national digital economy, make its growth an economic priority, and back this up with action – across government and the private sector” as Mr Husic termed it, but pushing an innovation agenda appears a political risk which neither is prepared to commit to.
Material for this piece was sourced from http://www.innovationaus.com/2017/09/Sinodinos-takes-some-time-out
