Robots here to help us work, says Deloitte chief executive Cindy Hook

ROBOTS are not coming to take our jobs but rather help us work, according to Deloitte Australia chief executive Cindy Hook.

Deloitte CEO Cindy Hook at the new Brisbane office in Riverside Centre. Picture: Peter Wallis

ROBOTS are not coming to take our jobs but rather help us work, according to Deloitte Australia chief executive Cindy Hook.

Ms Hook, who was in Brisbane last week to inspect Deloitte’s new offices in the Riverside Centre and meet clients, said work was changing but new technology should not be feared.

“Artificial intelligence and robots are not going to take jobs,” Ms Hook said. “Those technologies will not be replacing humans, but we will be working along side them.

“In a place like Queensland with a big tourist industry, no one wants to walk into a hotel with no humans at the front desk.”

Ms Hook said the nature of work was changing from full-time positions to increasingly flexible contract work. “Many people welcome the flexibility,” she said, but conceded safeguards to protect people’s retirement, holiday and health benefits may be needed.

She said improving telecommunications meant people could work remotely from regional areas. “There could be someone in Clermont who is really talented in a particular area, but does not want to move to Brisbane to work at the Riverside Centre,” Ms Hook said. “Work is becoming more flexible although there is still a need for people to collaborate.”

Deloitte Queensland managing partner John Greig said the Queensland economy was recovering well from the resources downturn. State final demand growth of three per cent over the next four years is expected to outperform the rest of the country.

“Compared to a place like Western Australia, we are transitioning well from the mining construction boom helped by the benefits of tourism and education,” Mr Greig said.

But Mr Greig said Queensland remained a two-speed economy as struggling regional areas failed to keep pace with the more prosperous southeast corner.

“South East Queensland is performing well but you don’t have to travel too far out of the southeast corner to see regional areas are struggling,” he said.

Mr Greig said a big challenge for both Queensland and the rest of Australia was to instil confidence back in the business community. “We have flipped from one government to another and we are not getting the consistency in policy.” he said.