Coronavirus: Atlassian boss Scott Farquhar’s insight handed Gladys Berejiklian a lead

Tech billionaire Scott Farquhar’s expertise put NSW on an early war footing that helped prevent­ the horrific death tolls occurrin­g elsewhere.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian gets her morning coffee from her local cafe in Sydney’s Northbride on Friday as restrictions eased slightly. Picture: Nikki Short

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian turned to tech billionaire Scott Farquhar during the darkest hours of the COVID-19 pandemic, revealing­ that his data and modelling expertise put the state on an early war footing that helped prevent­ the horrific death tolls occurrin­g elsewhere.

In an interview with The Weekend Australian, the Premier also outlined how she planned to reposition NSW as a global manufacturing leader to hedge against inevitable budget deficits caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

As NSW eased its first social restriction­s on Friday, Ms Berejiklian spoke of how her personal relationsh­ip with Mr Farquhar and other leading industry figures had been key to moving early with social restrictions that flattened the infection curve and secured the state against disaster.

She said Mr Farquhar, co-chief executive of Atlassia­n, had stepped in at a time when the ­extent and severity of the virus was still unclear.

He assisted with establishing the initial modelling that informed Ms Berejiklian’s “war cabinet’’ to move quickly against the virus; it was also Mr Farquhar who urged the Premier to publicise as much data as possible, so the community would heed the message of self-isolation.

“Scott Farquhar is a legend,” Ms Berejiklian told The Weekend Australian. “You don’t just need to be a health expert to manage a pandemic, you need to be a data expert and know what modelling shows you — and he is amazing. He helped me in the early days of the pandemic with data and managing data.”

Mr Farquhar and Ms Berejik­lian are understood to speak often, but he took a central role in identifying the severity of the pandemic during late February, when most countries were still moving cautiously against the virus. At that stage, in Australia, the likelihood of mass infections was, to some, a possibility rather than a certainty.

NSW subsequently became one of the strongest advocates in national cabinet meetings of stronger lockdown measures and school closures.

Asked to confirm his role, the 40-year-old told The Weekend Australian that Atlassian, which assisted with building the COVIDSafe app, was always “willing and able” to assist the government. The company also assisted the federal government with its Whats­App messaging service bot.

“COVID-19 is one of the biggest issues that government and business have ever had to face, so we’re proud to work together and help out however we can,” he said.

On Friday, NSW eased the first of its social restrictions implemented on March 30, allowing for up to two adults to visit another household to provide “care and support”, regardless of the distance required to travel.

Additional restrictions, such as those around schools and retail trade, have also been earmarked for relaxation, with the government moving to take its first cautious steps out of its crisis phase and into a longer-term effort ­focused on recovery.

With tourism, education and other sources of revenue flattened by the pandemic, Ms Berejiklian has now turned her eye to the dorman­t manufacturing sector. She says it could provide a lifeline for the state against the dreaded and deepening budget deficits being forecast. She wants NSW to position itself during and after the crisis to become a manufacturing leader through the use of artificial intelligence and 3D printing, which would make production cheaper. There is no reason, she says, why the sector should not form the backbone of the state’s economic recovery.

“Out of these hours of darkness there are green shoots in terms of establishing new supply chains, establ­ishing new industry, and that … gives me hope about NSW.”