The Mandarin - Fletcher paints new digital services picture for Coalition

The federal opposition has begun to erect the first tent poles of a renewed government services and digital economy policy following its defeat at the most recent election.

Seasoned telecommunications and technology policymaker Paul Fletcher has started marking out national and public sector productivity as a key battleground, as he sizes up to Bill Shorten and Ed Husic after their first year in government.

In an extensive speech delivered to the Tech Leaders Summit held over the weekend in the Hunter Valley, Fletcher mapped out a brief economic history of disruptive technologies — steam, electricity and communications — and their massive uplifts in productivity, arguing that Australia has a slowing productivity problem, a point similarly pushed by the Reserve Bank and the Productivity Commission.

The core of Fletcher’s argument is that governments ignore breakthroughs in the private sector that influence consumer experience and expectations at their peril and that locking out the private sector from government service delivery is essentially inviting failure when the government lacks needed internal capability.

“The present government’s approach … is getting the policy settings completely wrong when it comes to leveraging technology and the digital economy to drive productivity and growth,” Fletcher said.

“Part of the problem lies in what the current government is not doing. It does not have a minister for the digital economy; it does not have a clear national goal to be a leading digital economy; it has effectively nobbled the Digital Transformation Agency, shifting it deep into the bowels of the Department of Finance.”

What the government was doing, Fletcher said, is “prosecuting a union-driven agenda which is deeply hostile to the kind of workplace flexibility and choice which typically is a feature of technology businesses.”

Post-election gig guide

While predictably defending the gig economy (because everyone loves Uber until they have to work there) and a few other Coalition free-market shibboleths to stay safely on-brand in what has arguably become one of the most dogmatic oppositions of the past 25 years, Fletcher essentially advanced the argument that while Labor and the unions may not like the impact of the tech sector, it still has to deal with the consequences rather than spout rhetoric.

“It is increasingly clear that the Albanese Labor government is heavily influenced by union obstructionism based on old-economy thinking. This is very troubling for the prospects of Australia’s technology sector — not least because of the tech skills shortage,” Fletcher said.

“Industry peak body the Tech Council has quantified the sector’s employment shortfall at 653,000 in the next eight years. Much of this gap of course can and should be met with workers who are trained and developed in Australia.

“But it will also require the government, in the words of the Tech Council, to ‘streamline skilled migration for high-salary, experienced technical roles with chronic shortages.’ “

The fact that Fletcher is referring to the Tech Council as the new “peak body” indicates the Coalition is more prepared to support a broadly more progressive and inclusive lobby group in setting the policy agenda in opposition than the Australian Computer Society or the Australian Information Industry Association.

Also notable was that Scott Farquhar of Atlassian fame was quoted as opposed to Bill Gates, either of the Larrys, Elon or Bezos.

“Some years ago I invited the co-founder of an early-stage software business to give the JJC Bradfield Lecture, Fletcher reminisced.

“Scott Farquhar was not as famous then as he is now but his words, nearly 10 years later, look very prescient:

“Scott was right to focus on the way software can improve productivity — because productivity is a very big deal.”

Call it what you want. This was Fletcher flexing his old-school tech sector OG props: Atlassian … yeah I booked them when they were nobodies. Look at them now …

No labour, no jobs

Fletcher argued that restrictions on skilled migration for tech talent amounted to a union-run shakedown of employers that was stalling vital industries.

“The ACTU advocated the abolition of employer-sponsored visas. Instead, sponsorship would be done by an inevitably slower, more bureaucratic industry-wide body with union involvement less responsive to business needs,” Fletcher said.

“Last year the government slowed down visa processing for cybersecurity and critical tech occupations, removing 27 job roles, including ICT security specialists and tech workers, from its priority migration list.”

Digital identity crisis

One of the more potent arguments pushed by Fletcher is that for all the criticisms previously levelled at it by Labor from the opposition benches, the rate of progress on key initiatives by Labor in government isn’t exactly inspiring.

Digital identity and the Digital Transformation Agency were two cases in point. Fletcher did not claim either as a resounding success of the procession of ministers responsible for them: rather, he argued that they were hard work that would only get harder if neglected.

“A national digital identity system was a major priority for the previous Coalition government, with some $600 million invested, but under this government, the progress has stopped,” Fletcher said.

“Imagine if I could establish my identity simply by keying in my name to the website of the bank or telco, then typing in a multi-digit code or completing a simple biometric check just sent to me by my “trusted digital identity provider”.

“Such a system is pretty much ready to go, following several years of detailed work led by the Digital Transformation Agency under the Coalition government. That included public consultation and issuing an exposure draft of the Trusted Digital Identity Bill,” Fletcher said.

That may all be true, but a major vulnerability for the Coalition that remains is Stuart Robert in his time as government services minister. Even so, Fletcher is arguing progress must continue, not abate.

“Unfortunately, the development of this whole-of-government, whole-of-economy system, and the pursuance of legislation, is drifting under the Albanese government.  Speaking recently, finance minister Katy Gallagher failed to commit to a legislative timetable, saying that while the government was looking to have legislation in place by mid-next year, she didn’t want to be held to that timeframe,” Fletcher said.

“The only thing that minister Gallagher could say with confidence is that there would be yet more consultation on digital ID — even though there have already been several rounds of consultation as part of the detailed work done by the previous Coalition government. This simply looks like another attempt to delay.”

Fletcher also pointed to the myGov User Audit, claiming it had missed key deadlines.

“The user audit was delivered more than six months ago to the government. But so far the government has failed to respond to its recommendations, despite the Audit recommending they do so by 1 July 2023,” Fletcher said.

“Instead, Services Australia has abolished more than a thousand specialist IT jobs; it has got rid of specialised call centre operator Serco; call hold times have blown out; and the huge potential for improved digital service delivery is largely being ignored.”

This is where a seasoned operator like Fletcher can sense opportunity in the misfortune of his adversaries. Fletcher knows how badly Labor will struggle because he has seen his own struggle badly and without the rhetorical baggage of dumping outsourcers.

Realistically, Labor will only be able to point back to the failure of their predecessors as the cause of problems for another three months.

The general rule of Australian politics is that two Christmases hands the incumbent ownership of the problem, and all the misery that goes with it.

And Paul Fletcher has some extra time on his hands.

Author: Julian Bajkowski

This article appeared in The Mandarin on 31 August 2023