Malcolm Turnbull accuses politicians of exploiting people’s fear of change at StartCon conference

Technology is outside the comfort zone of Scott Morrison, Turnbull tells startup conference.

Former Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, speaks at Startcon at Royal Randwick. Picture: Dylan Robinson

Technology is outside the comfort zone of Scott Morrison but he is playing a pivotal role in innovation, says Malcolm Turnbull.

Mr Turnbull made the remark in a speech at the StartCon technology conference in Sydney on Friday.

He said some politicians think they need to exploit people’s fear of change to win power. However denying the importance of innovation is like denying the reality of climate change.

The former Australian prime minister talked up his government’s science and innovation agenda at the Sydney conference, saying some had encouraged him to avoid the topic of innovation when he held the top job. They told him Australians would worry about a computer taking their job.

“Well, that is a political reality and there are people that exploit fear of change in every environment and this rise of populism – rise of protectionism around the world – is a feature of that,” he told StartCon.

“But, believe me, denying change – in denying the importance of innovation – is like denying climate change – it’s denying reality.”

The world is changing. “If you want to deny the changes that are around you then you will get taken over.”

Mr Turnbull said Australia had a much stronger innovation and venture capitalism ecosystem than five years ago, with many start-up companies valued at over $1 billion.

Asked how he rated the current prime minister’s performance on innovation, Mr Turnbull said it wasn’t Scott Morrison’s comfort zone and he didn’t “have the background or enthusiasm for it that I did”.

However he acknowledged Mr Morrison was treasurer when the government agreed on its national innovation and science agenda.

“You need persistent advocacy but it helps if you actually have a background in it and have an understanding,” Mr Turnbull said.

“I think for a lot of people, they find technical areas baffling and don’t, you know … they can’t get their head around it.”

Mr Turnbull said Australia’s comparative advantages included its people, its multicultural society and a “huge opportunity” in energy.

“We have reached an inflection point in energy where we can become a very, very cheap, clean energy economy,” he said.

“We’ll move away from coal. I know there are people who’ve got sentimental attachment to that, but basically we are now in a position … where the cost of variable renewables, particularly solar, keeps on coming down.”