LOSING THE GLOBAL RACE? Your kids will be…

Why Australia sits on the bottom rung:

1. Complacent affluence = Status-quo bias.

 When you already have high wages, a comfortable welfare net, and an economy still buoyed by rocks and crops, revolutionary tech looks more like a threat to stability than a path to prosperity. The mining boom mind-set breeds “if it ain’t broke, don’t automate.”

2. Risk-averse civic culture.

 Royal Commissions, Robodebt, and a parade of data-breach headlines have trained the public to see tech through a liability lens. Canberra’s policy talk starts with “guardrails” and “harms,” not “moon-shots.” Result: the dominant public narrative is fear, not possibility.

3. Low AI literacy, low hunger to learn.

 Only 59 % of Australians even want to learn more about AI—bottom of the 47-country pack—and AI training rates are similarly low. KPMG Assets

 Ignorance breeds anxiety: if you don’t understand the tool, you assume the worst.

4. No home-grown big-tech success stories.

 Atlassian is the exception that proves the rule. Without local champions visibly creating wealth and jobs, Australians experience AI as an imported disruption, not a national opportunity.

5. Tall-poppy syndrome in corporate boardrooms.

 Executives love talking “innovation” but quietly budget for “vendor lock-in to IBM or Microsoft,” then blame regulators when transformation stalls. That caution seeps into public sentiment.

6. Union and media framing = Job-loss lens.

 Headlines obsess over ChatGPT taking journalists’ or call-centre jobs. Very few stories showcase Australian SMEs 10-X-ing exports with AI. Fear messaging wins the airtime.