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The chief executive of Brisbane-based software company TechnologyOne said Australian firms could stand shoulder to shoulder with international tech giants except for a “cultural cringe” which incorrectly depicts local products as inferior. He believes that government procurement policies should preference Australian technology products under an “if not, why not?” provision that mirrors similar policies in the US and Germany. “I wouldn’t say that I love everything Trump is doing, but the part I do like is that he is supporting local businesses,” Mr Chung said. Mr Chung’s comments come after this masthead launched a Back Australia campaign, pulling focus on the issues impacting Aussie businesses and reforms needed to help them. He said procurement at state government levels was almost non-existent for Australian hi-tech products. “Probably 20 years ago, we didn’t have the scale and the products that we have now,” he said. “But now we can compete hands down and win hands down on that.” Want to read more of the stories you love on one of our state news websites? Click here to sign up for a free trial and access 12 locked articles on web over 12 weeks. Limits and T&Cs apply. Technology industries have been earmarked for massive growth under a national program which aims to reach 1.2 million tech-related jobs by 2030. Industry leaders, including Chung, have queried whether the target could be reached, arguing that Australia remained fixated on commodities exports at the expense of research and development (R&D) funding. Before his first election win, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled a “Buy Australian Plan”, saying that procurement policy for government contracts was “a major economic lever”. “The start is definitely there and the willingness is there,” Chung said of the policy. “The rubber is yet to hit the road but if the momentum keeps going, it’ll be good for Australian businesses. “There’s so much talent here in Australia building substantial businesses that are moving the needle on the world stage. “To get those guys and girls turbocharged, the Buy Australian (policy) is a really important thing.” He said government support would assist start-up companies that sought to apply AI – which he called the fastest and biggest tech shift in our lifetimes – to solve real-life problems. Chung argued that procurement officers collectively maintained a traditional view that multinational companies, such as IBM, were a cheaper alternative to local options. “That’s definitely not the case,” he said. “We are better value than our international competitors by orders of magnitude.” Chung said national R&D funding was at its lowest levels in a generation. It needed to be “watered, fed and grown” so that jobs would be created and exports diversified for future generations. TechnologyOne, valued at more than $12b, provides cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) enterprise solutions, such as financial management and payroll systems. Chung said a minor rise in local companies’ SaaS market share would unleash billions of extra dollars in local spending and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue. “You can dig stuff out of the ground or you can build widgets or in our case you can build software,” he said. “Creating that IP has downstream impacts which are huge.” Chung advocated an Australian-made preference for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics (for which he would offer TechnologyOne services for free), but feared the local prejudice against Australian-made would prevail. “We’re a big company but there’s so many more who could get their names out on the world stage in 2032 and use it as a springboard for greatness,” he said. This article is part of the Back Australia series, which was supported by Australian Made Campaign, Harvey Norman, Westpac, Bunnings, Coles, TechnologyOne, REA Group, Cadbury, R.M.Williams, Qantas, Vodafone and BHP. Originally published as Why this Aussie tech boss believes the government should follow Donald Trump’s lead in championing local firms
