Tech tycoon warns of job pain

ATLASSIAN co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes has warned Australia faces massive economic and social pain if it does not face challenges posed by automation and technological disruption.

Speaking about the potential threat before a Senate committee yesterday, Mr Cannon-Brookes declared “this is not science fiction”.

He put his case that the nation’s visa system was broken and said planning was necessary now to ensure Australia remained prosperous.

Mr Cannon-Brookes, who joined Bloomberg’s Rich List last week as the world’s 499th richest, said uncertainty around 457 visas had hurt his company’s ability to hire.

Speaking on the sidelines of the hearing on the future of work, Mr Cannon-Brookes said he emailed the committee earlier this month out of frustration that there was nobody from a technology company represented.

“How do you talk about the future of work without people from workplaces? It’s a bit odd,” he said.

Mr Cannon-Brookes said the main point he wanted to get across was that the technology industry was important and needed to be nurtured and grown.

“If you look at NAB (National Australia Bank), they said they’re letting go of 6000 tellers and getting 2000 software engineers,” he said.

“We look around and go, ‘where the f--- are they gonna get 2000 engineers from?’

“The technology industry’s problems are everyone’s problems in the future, and then [there’s] the whole disruption thing. We just don’t plan.

“The tipping point for some of these technologies will be very, very fast.”

Pointing to research showing 40 per cent of jobs might be displaced in the next 10 years, Mr Cannon-Brookes said he “hated to have to scare people”, but said it seemed to be the only way to get action.