THE RISK OF A DYSREGULATED DIGITAL ECONOMY Australia’s digital transformation necessitates a cohesive approach to tech industry regulation. If we get it wrong, we put innovation and productivity at risk, writes Simon Bush from the Australian Information Industry Association. G overnments around the world are grap-
more than 80 per cent of jobs now require some form of digital skill. Immense in size and grow- ing rapidly, the digital economy now ranks as the third largest sector in the Australian econo- my, contributing $167 billion to GDP. Cyber security, ESG reporting and AI gov- ernance: in these key policy areas, our gov- “Some of the most significant risks of AI include bias, deep fakes, and – on a larger scale – human safety.” ernment should be a leader, yet is a laggard – something that has only become more clear since the launch of ChatGPT on November 30, 2022. Although our leaders have detailed reg- ulations across the economy, whether existing or prospective, they often don’t apply the rules for themselves.
pling with the profound integration of digital technologies across their econo- mies as well as the rapid pace of change. Many are assessing the needs of their modern digital economy by ensuring it has the required sover- eign capabilities and robust supply chains, as well as supporting ‘buy local’ policies. However, for the tech industry, governments have demonstrated limited understanding of the complexities of supply chains, the global nature of clouds and data sharing benefits, and how tech regulation - and at times protection- ist sovereign-first policies - can stifle innova- tion and drive up costs. In Australia, the regulation of technology is an uncoordinated tangled web characterised by overlapping, intertwined rules and regulations that impact on effective industry compliance. Digital technology is not just a vertical sector in our economy, but a horizontal enabler that touches every pillar and every business: in fact,
Dr. Trevor Pearcey created CSIRAC, one of the first stored program electronic computers in the world.
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