Issue 02 of Inflection Points is out now
Our second edition focuses on how innovation & technology can drive a better future, with pieces by Victor Dominello, Jessy Wu, Jade Lin & Brandon Sheppard
Today we release Issue 02 of Inflection Points, which is focused on how new technology and innovation can flourish in Australia. It includes essays from Victor Dominello, Jessy Wu, Jade Lin, and Brandon Sheppard.
We’ve also released a new podcast episode, with Andrew Leigh, discussing the personal and political dimensions of productivity. You can listen to it now on all podcast platforms.
Issue 02 out now: technology & innovation
In this edition of Inflection Points, four fresh pieces unpack how innovation and technology can deliver a better future for Australia. The four feature essays are:
How one Australian State Built a Digital Government by Victor Dominello
Diversifying Australian Risk Capital by Jessy Wu
Technology Can Address Care Worker Shortages by Jade Lin
Industrial Policy for Tech Workers by Brandon Sheppard
How one Australian State Built a Digital Government
Victor Dominello reflects on his experience as NSW’s Minister for Digital to argue that citizens value seamless digital interactions with government just as much as they value physical infrastructure.
Very quickly, the Service NSW app became a trusted, widely-used platform because it was simple, reliable, and respectful, proving that digital convenience can rival physical concrete in building public trust.
But despite NSW’s success, other governments in Australia have not followed suit. To break through, Victor identifies four shifts that should be made to how government works:
Agile data: data is used in real time, safely and across silos
Agile decisions: decisions are made closer to delivery
Agile funding: money moves with outcomes and lessons
Agile thinking: curiosity, humility and iteration become the norm
Above all, he argues, a national Digital ID must be the backbone of reform, unlocking billions annually in economic benefits and enabling innovations like skills and health wallets for all.
Victor is CEO of the Future Government Institute. He was previously NSW’s Minister for Digital.
Diversifying Australian Risk Capital
Jessy Wu argues that Australia doesn’t need more venture capital; instead, it needs more diverse forms of risk capital. While Australia leads the world in Unicorns created per dollar invested, the concentration of capital in a few megafunds has biased VC investment towards large, cash-hungry software companies. This has left many promising but smaller-scale businesses unfunded.
Jessy contends that the government should remove barriers and create on-ramps for new managers, rather than try to run VC funds directly. To unlock more capital for diverse new businesses, she suggests:
Adjusting superannuation performance tests
Lowering the threshold for tax incentives
Expanding support programs like LaunchVic
Establishing a privately-run fund-of-funds
Jessy is the Founder and MD of Encour. She was previously a partner at AfterWork Ventures.
Technology Can Address Care Worker Shortages
Jade Lin questions the dominant view that low productivity growth in the care sector is inevitable. She argues that real technology improvements that are already being adopted globally—like robotics, smart scheduling, and machine-learning risk models—could lay the foundations for improved quality at lower cost, for the benefit of both workers and those in their care.
But structural and regulatory challenges have to date prevented the care economy from adopting new technologies at scale and meeting the needs of workers. The fragmented sector has both limited capacity and few incentives to invest in new technologies, especially given substantial regulatory changes.
To address this, Lin proposes we overhaul the hours-based funding model for the care sector to give firms both the ability and the incentive to invest in new technologies. Combined with new incentives for employees, this could deliver better outcomes for both workers and those in their care.
Jade is a Fellow at the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation and a Masters student at Harvard University.
Industrial Policy for Tech Workers
Brandon Sheppard argues that Australia has the talent and capital to build world-class software companies, but too many of our rules were written for a different era.
Instead of supporting fast-moving startups, our rules reward incumbency, paperwork, and rigidity—pushing founders to incorporate here but scale overseas. Sheppard lays out five reforms to modernise industrial policy for tech workers:
Modernise the R&D Tax Incentive so it fits iterative software development rather than lab-style documentation, making it accessible and useful for early-stage firms.
Broaden employee ownership by simplifying and expanding ESOPs, so more Australians can share in the upside of the companies they help build.
Unlock an angel investing boom by fixing super tax rules on unrealised gains, easing wealth tests, streamlining ESIC eligibility, and endorsing a single SAFE template.
Boost talent mobility by extending small-business dismissal rules to startups, curbing non-competes, and giving early-stage firms the flexibility to pivot teams quickly.
Expand engineering pipelines by making visas faster and cheaper, lowering salary thresholds for startups, and actively attracting global talent through a dedicated office.
Together, these reforms would cut red tape, reward risk-taking, and keep more of Australia’s startup success at home.
Brandon is the COO of Instant. He has over a decade’s experience working in Australia’s tech sector.
New podcast episode: Andrew Leigh on the personal and political of productivity
After a decade of sluggish growth—the slowest productivity gains in 60 years—Australia faces a fundamental question: how does our nation capture the dynamic potential of the 21st century? How do we build an economy that rewards innovation, enables competition, and creates opportunity for all?
In our second episode of the Inflection Points Podcast, we talk to Andrew Leigh about both personal and national productivity. In the first half of this episode, we dive into Andrew’s personal systems and productivity trade-offs, from four-hour sleep experiments to the art of the strategic “No”. Then, we zoom out to the national challenge: how do we translate individual excellence into collective prosperity?
Apple Podcasts – Spotify – Pocketcasts – RSS
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