While the Tech Council of Australia welcomed the new measures for the sector under the October 2022-23 Federal Budget, concerns have been raised with regards to the $4 million cut to the women’s tech workforce reskilling initiative.
Tech Council of Australia CEO Kate Pounder noted that the new measures under the Federal Budget will greatly support the investment and growth of the tech sector via innovation and get more people into high-paid, high-skilled tech jobs.
“We are pleased to see the Government follow through on its election commitment to establish the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund which acts as the vehicle for the previously announced $1 billion Critical Technologies Fund, which if designed well, will play a vital role in addressing funding gaps in the tech sector,” she said.
“We believe Australia has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to be a global technology powerhouse, leading in critical tech fields that will be important to Australia’s future prosperity and security like Quantum, AI, robotics and cybersecurity.”
Ms Pounder also welcomes the announcement of $4.8 million to develop Australian quantum technology under the Budget.
The funding is said to sponsor up to 20 PhD research scholarships and encourage collaboration on quantum research across Australian universities.
“We acknowledge Minister Ed Husic’s continued strong support for the technology sector and his work on partnering with industry,” she said.
“The TCA looks forward to the Government engaging closely with the tech industry to support the design of these important Funds.”
However, Ms Pounder states that there is still more work that needs to be done in terms of improving Australia’s tech sector.
She states that Australia, despite having comparative strengths in tech, is significantly under-investing in parts of the tech sector where Australia punches above its weight compared to other countries.
Most notably, Ms Pounder calls out the $4 million cut to the women’s tech workforce reskilling initiative.
“We believe keeping a focus on the role of women in the tech sector is absolutely critical if we are to meet our shared goal with Government of meeting 1.2 million jobs by 2030,” she said.
“Women comprise only a quarter of the tech workforce, despite these roles being amongst the fastest-growing, most flexible and secure jobs in the country, with half the gender pay gap of other high-paying industries. So, we are disappointed to see funding cut to a program which had the potential to help improve these numbers.”
Ms Pounder states that reskilling is a key pathway to bring more women into the tech sector.
“While we support the Government’s broader efforts to increase women’s workforce participation, we simply don’t agree that it is wasteful to support women to reskill into high-skilled, high-paid jobs,” she said.
“Our sector offers incredible opportunity for women and we look forward to working with Government to find a solution to address this crucial issue.”
Source: Tech Council of Australia Newsroom. Content has been edited for style and length.