Silicon Valley tech giants eye Australian ‘head office’

Afterpay co-founder Anthony Eisen wants Australia to compete with Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv

Anthony Eisen says there is nothing ‘geographically special’ about tech hubs such as Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv. ‘it’s really just a mindset and it’s a community’. Picture: Damian Bennett

Afterpay co-founder Anthony Eisen wants Australia to become the “head office for global tech companies” and compete with Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv, joining Atlassian boss Scott Farquhar and Tesla chair Robyn Denholm in a push to drive the fast-growing sector above one million jobs by 2025.

The nation’s leading tech companies – including Afterpay, ­Atlassian, Canva, Google Australia, Airtasker and Microsoft Australia – will launch the Tech Council of Australia on Wednesday, bringing together tech ­moguls and start-up pioneers to position the country as a ­global hub.

With the industry already pumping $167bn into the economy and employing 861,000 Aus­tralians, fuelled by a 65,000 jobs boom during the pandemic, the Tech Council has set a target of ­increasing economic output to $250bn within a decade.

In an exclusive interview with The Australian following last week’s announcement of a $39bn takeover offer for Afterpay – the homegrown buy now, pay later giant he co-founded with Nick Molnar – Mr Eisen said Australia was well-placed to attract the world’s “best and brightest” as the tech industry rides a wave of ­unprecedented success.

“I think everybody on the council just feels very privileged by the opportunity they’ve been given to emanate from Australia, have the opportunities that we’ve had here and in a lot of cases take that mission and vision globally,” Mr Eisen said.

“It would be fair to say that a lot of people on the committee have seen first-hand what it’s like to just have exceptionally talented ­people in Australia just work their guts out to have a place in the global scale. And it’s really reflective of what Australian culture is all about. So being able to give that impetus and direction and ­momentum is entirely where everybody’s coming from. ­Because the opportunities are very significant if you can capture it and everyone can get behind it.”

Mr Eisen, who sits on the Tech Council board alongside Mr Farquhar, Ms Denholm, former Queensland minister Kate Jones, Canva co-founder Cliff Obrecht, :Different chief executive Mina Radhakrishnan, Culture Amp chief executive Didier Elzinga and former federal Liberal MP Wyatt Roy, said there was nothing “geographically special” about tech hubs such as Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv. “It’s really just a mindset and it’s a community. And there’s an integrated thread between government and enterprise and the people who live and work there.

“When you have the right mindset and the right impetus, that’s how these places have evolved and then have continued.

“I certainly see the beginnings of that in Australia and the more I see governments, federal and state, have a real interest in the tech sector and getting behind the communities that exist within it, I think the momentum is ­definitely on our side if we can ­capture it.”

An Accenture report commissioned by the Tech Council found that since 2005, tech jobs have grown by 66 per cent compared with the average jobs growth rate of 35 per cent.

During the pandemic, the tech industry was the second highest job creator behind retail.

The report found that by 2030, the technology sector – made up of 35,200 sole traders, 26,100 businesses with fewer than 20 employees and 100 large firms of more than 200 employees, had the ­potential to contribute more to GDP than primary industries or manufacturing.

Mr Eisen said there was no reason why “Australia can’t be the head office for global tech ­companies”.

“Technology in a lot of ways is borderless and if you look at where people want to live these days, Australia would rank pretty highly on the list as it relates to education, lifestyle, government, stability and all the things that are very important to people’s long-term goals.

“The fact that from a technology platform-related perspective you can work anywhere and fully utilise remote working, as we’ve seen with amazing illustration over the last 18 months, there’s no reason why Australia can’t be the head office as opposed to the ­remote office.”

Ms Denholm, who succeeded Elon Musk as Tesla chair in 2018, said as Covid-19 forced businesses and Australians into lockdown, software and cloud service adoption by companies and workers helped avoid a total economic shutdown. “As we rebuild our economy in the years ahead, technology has the potential to expand and create great jobs for our kids and grandkids. Near term, by 2030, the technology sector has the potential to contribute more to GDP than ­either primary industries or manufacturing,” she said.

The Tech Council chair said technology had succeeded despite “uncertainty” across the economy.

“Crucially, it is an enabler of all other sectors, helping mining, agriculture, banking and health drive new growth and productivity,” she said.

Mr Eisen said governments were “very clear” on the opportunity of the tech sector and needed to co-ordinate closely with the industry. “It stems from things like education, how job opportunities are presented in market, regulation, funding for new entrants. All of these things work together to create a vibrant environment.

“The government has a critical role to play but it’s not only up to the government – it’s about how government and industry can work hand-in-hand.”

Mr Eisen said Australia was “rapidly catching up and there’s no reason why Australia can’t be a hub for companies that want to ­expand globally”.

Writing for The Australian, Ms Jones and Mr Roy – both former innovation ministers at state and federal level – said the tech sector’s “global success will remain a powerhouse driving economic growth and job creation at home”.

“At a time of low wage growth, these are the kinds of jobs Australians have always aspired to, just with different titles, skills and opportunities,” they said. “Now is the right time for us as a nation to develop clear policy and direction for the future of the tech sector. The sector recognises we must work more effectively with government to create jobs and opportunity to ensure all Australians benefit.”