Advanced manufacturing and AI: Australia just makes it all too hard. By Bran Black in The Australian, Mr Black is the CEO of the Business Council of Australia.
I returned to Australia this week after leading a delegation of Australian chief executives through New York and Washington, where we met with senior investors, members of congress, administration officials, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the New York Stock Exchange and leaders from some of the world’s largest investment and technology companies.
The message we heard repeatedly was clear, consistent and urgent – Australia is extraordinarily well positioned to benefit from the next wave of global investment driven by artificial intelligence. But the world will not wait for Australia.
On the flight home from Washington to Dallas before returning to Australia, I sat next to an American investment banker heading to Hong Kong. When he heard I was Australian, he immediately said he’d heard about Australia’s recent changes to capital gains tax and our miles of red tape and regulation.
Then he said something alarming. “I wouldn’t invest in Australia right now.” …
One senior figure told us Australia was “almost the perfect place in the world” for the infrastructure required to power the AI revolution. But we also heard growing concern that Australia risks regulating, delaying and debating itself out of the opportunity. One phrase came up repeatedly throughout the trip: “Just make it happen.” …
Missing out (take note, Mr Albanese):
Around the world, governments and businesses are moving fast to secure the investment, energy systems, data infrastructure and supply chains that will underpin the next generation of economic growth.
Huge amounts of global capital are on offer. Decisions are being made and projects are being approved. And the next six to 12 months are widely seen as critical.
We heard estimates of up to $US1 trillion in capital potentially being deployed globally over coming years into the infrastructure required to support AI. That means data centres, electricity generation, transmission, cooling systems, and advanced manufacturing. …
Australia should be one of the leading destinations for that investment. But investment flows to where confidence exists. And increasingly, international investors are questioning whether Australia is still capable of saying “yes” to major projects quickly and consistently.
Again and again, concerns were raised about regulatory complexity, approvals delays and policy uncertainty. Whether it’s changing tax settings, debates around capital gains tax, or overlapping planning systems, these issues are not viewed in isolation internationally. Together, they fuel an existing narrative we’ve now heard in boardrooms from Tokyo to New York that Australia just makes it all too hard.
Poorer Australians, coming up.