The sheer scale of Labor’s historic 2025 election victory delivers Anthony Albanese a mandate to “double-down” on his government’s industrial ambition and the opportunity to reshape the nation’s research and innovation systems.
The most common reaction to the stunning result was that it gives the Prime Minister a solid mandate to be bolder in pursuit of his government’s agenda on energy transition and reindustrialisation on the one hand, and capability development and job creation in the tech sector on the other.
The significance of Treasurer Jim Chalmers appearance on ABC TVs Insiders program talking about “the AI opportunity” and the importance of embracing technology to drive productivity improvements was not lost on the industry after a campaign that largely ignored these issues.
Industrial policy expert Professor Roy Green called the result an “unexpectedly decisive victory over the politics of grievance,” giving the government a chance to “double down on its vision” during its second term.
“Although not figuring largely in the election campaign, it’s increasingly recognised that a major reboot to science, technology and innovation will be critical to Australia’s sovereign capability in a troubling geopolitical environment,” Professor Green said.
“This is not just about globally competitive investment in R&D, important though that is, but the complex task of addressing Australia’s narrow and outdated industrial structure, based on the export of unprocessed raw materials.
“The development of knowledge-driven industries and services, including those adding value to our abundant resources, is essential to dealing with the interconnected challenges of productivity, energy transition and living standards.
“The Future Made in Australia plan provides the foundation for the delivery of ambitious structural change over coming months and years, and hence for long-term growth and jobs, but the array of policy initiatives will need a coordinating focus in government to achieve their objectives.”
Tech Council of Australia chief executive Damian Kassabgi said the strength of the victory would enable government to build on existing work like the review of the R&D system and the development of a national capability plan.
While acknowledging that the campaign was focused on “bread and butter matters”, he said “the new government’s opportunity is to act with boldness to address lagging productivity and the slowing down of investment”.
Mr Kassabgi welcomed Mr Chalmers bringing AI and technology immediately into the post-election conversation and said the Tech Council had a shared ambition with the government to create a 1.2 million strong tech sector workforce by 2030.
But he also called for an expedited program of work on the development of a National AI Capability Plan, which is currently not scheduled to be delivered until December.
And while AI safety was important, it should not be allowed to dominate policy discussions to the exclusion of the economic opportunities of AI.
“For us, this is a positive conversation. This is not just about the risks of AI – which of course need to be managed – but it’s also about economic opportunities for the country,” Mr Kassabgi said.
“We see an opportunity here to bring it forward, to act more quickly to understand our capabilities [AI].”
He said effective artificial intelligence policy was not just about economic opportunity or job creation (although the Tech Council says there will be 200,000 jobs in AI by 2030) but was central to national resilience.
Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) chief executive Simon Bush welcomed the return of the Albanese government but urged that it to prioritise the completion of regulatory and policy work that was started in the first term but which remains outstanding.
These include the completion of a national AI regulation framework and guardrails, the National AI Capability Plan, as well as the Strategic Examination of R&D (SERD).
“Finalising AI regulation and signaling long-term capability plans, including digital infrastructure investment, will ensure that the benefits of emerging technologies translate into more meaningful, well-paid jobs and increased productivity across the economy,” Mr Bush said.
He also restated the AIIA’s pre-election call for the appointment of a dedicated Minister for the Digital Economy as a senior voice in Cabinet to unify policies across AI, data, cyber, digital skills and innovation.
High-profile Australian entrepreneur and Vault Cloud chief executive Rupert Taylor-Price said Labor’s first term had produced landmark programs like the Buy Australia Plan, A Future Made in Australia, the National Reconstruction Fund, and had made important changes to Commonwealth Procurement Rules and defined an Australian business.
But while these accomplishments are transformational at a policy level, they are yet to translate to changes in government spending outcomes, he said.
“Australia is drifting into a productivity crisis while the world around us de-stabilises,” Mr Taylor-Price said. “We risk moving from a cost-of-living election to a cost-of-living decade if we do not modernise our economy.”
“The Albanese Government’s second term has given Australia an opportunity to see through the progressive policies from the first term into action in their second term.”
AI investment must be a priority for the government in its second term, given Australia’s status as an AI laggard both as a producer and consumer of the technology, he said.
“If Australia does not make large scale investments into AI in the near term, we are going to be left without the ability to be a producer of something that is becoming as economically fundamental as electricity,” Mr Taylor-Price said.
“While the Government did not cause Australia to have a lack of AI production capability, it can play a role in course correcting our nation in this critical area.”
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An excellent article a day after the election by James Riley. This is exactly the kind of framing we need. The government now has a rare mandate not just to define the innovation challenge again, but to build the institutional architecture to solve it.