Tech giants called on for leadership role for start-ups

Google and Facebook will face a square off with Karen Andrews, the tech titans told to assist smaller companies.

StartupAUS chief executive Alex McCauley.

Google and Facebook will face a showdown next week with Minister for ­Industry, ­Science and Technology Karen Andrews in the wake of last week’s landmark ACCC report.

Ms Andrews said she would flag potential new regulations and give the tech titans an opportunity to press their case at Thursday’s roundtable meeting.

Other tech companies around the table will be Microsoft, Twitter, IBM, Uber and local success story WiseTech Global.

“I want to establish a two-way street between tech organisations and the government; I’m very keen for genuine engagement and to hear what their views are,” Ms Andrews said. “I understand how important technology is to Australia and I’m happy to fight it out on behalf of start-ups right up through to the tech titans, they are so important to the economy and to jobs.

“But I want to hear from them what they’re going to be doing to support younger businesses coming through, I’ll be calling on the tech titans to increase the support they’re giving to start-ups and let them take a leadership position.”

Last week’s ACCC report noted specifically that “there is a substantial disconnect between how consumers think their data should be treated and how it is ­actually treated”.

“Data integrity is an issue and quite frankly it is broader than the tech sector, even though they are clear players,” Ms Andrews said.

“I’m very interested in ensuring that there is integrity to the data that is used, because that has big implications particularly for artificial intelligence and how AI uses decision-making, for example.

“Of course, people need to be concerned about privacy with their data and I’m keen to talk to them about the whole issue of regulation. The biggest risk is diving in and making decisions ­before we’ve gone through a rigorous process; we want the views in this case of the tech titans and so that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

Ms Andrews will also host a roundtable today with start-ups, which have long called for more engagement from government. Attendees include Airtasker boss Tim Fung, Flamingo AI chief Catriona Wallace, Square Peg Capital partner Paul Bassat and Start­upAUS chief Alex McCauley.

“Like any businesses in their initial stages, start-ups are time-poor and don’t have the ability to look for the support they often need,” Ms Andrews said. “So I’m keen to engage with them and help where I can.”

Mr McCauley runs the peak body representing start-ups, and said he would be calling for clear results on issue facing the sector, such as the status of the research and development tax incentive, and encryption laws.

“It’s really important that this is a face-to-face engagement, given government and entrepreneurs don’t always speak the same language,’’ he said.

“Getting in a room together gives them an opportunity to ­really get to grips with the issues.

“Given the rapid growth and economic impact of Australia’s tech sector, it’s important for the country that we get this dialogue right.’’