Jim's data dreams
Jim Chalmers is betting that AI and data centres are a generational opportunity for Australia. But he knows red tape could push investors to Singapore and Malaysia.
The one word Jim Chalmers kept repeating as he addressed the cabinet room of hand-selected roundtable participants on Tuesday morning was “ambition”.
“This is an ambitious group, an ambitious government, an ambitious agenda,” the treasurer declared in his prepared remarks, adding that global uncertainty is rising, big challenges loom, and Australia’s ambitions must “meet this moment”.
Chalmers made it clear that by Thursday he wants to achieve three things: specific reforms where there is full agreement, broad alignment on the “direction of travel” in other areas, and a list of ongoing priorities where there is appetite for further work.
If this is not achieved, it will be a big miss. As Chalmers said this morning, “it’s hard to recall a time when the balance between opportunity and uncertainty was so finely poised as it seems now”.
