TOM CONNELL: Well, the Prime Minister is over in the US. He has announced, and it's
been announced here in Australia as well, a new partnership with Microsoft, an extra $5
billion to be invested in Australia. It's about multiple things; a cyber shield, amongst
other things, and also training up the next generation of technology workers. Joining me
now is Industry Minister, Ed Husic. Thanks for your time. How transformative --

ED HUSIC, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND SCIENCE: G'day Tom.

TOM CONNELL: -- is this amount in terms of current investment in Australia and how
much it's boosted by it?

ED HUSIC: Microsoft's announcement of investing $5 billion in new data centres plus
training, it's a huge vote of confidence in the Australian economy, recognising too that
as a government we're taking technology seriously. It will give us a longer-term
economic and commercial edge and help us grow really secure, well-paying jobs into
the future. So it is a critical investment, we think, for the long-term, and we do welcome
it, because it's a serious investment by one of the world's leading tech firms.

TOM CONNELL: The talk here is training an extra 300,000 Australians within this
sector broadly speaking. Is this something that's needed, more encouragement, you
know, do people, when they're finishing high school, find this area exciting enough, or
do they still sort of think, "Oh, not sure about tech or IT." Does it suffer from a bit of
reputation damage?

ED HUSIC: I guess a number of things. One is that they'll invest in a Microsoft data
centre academy to build the digital tradies that are required to support the work of data
centres that are so important to other businesses in terms of providing and storing
information. They'll extend Microsoft, their training programs that will help around
300,000 Australians get the skills that are needed in this area, and more broadly, it will
help us get closer to the Albanese Government's target of 1.2 million Australians
employed in tech-related jobs by 2030, seeing those skills across Australian industry to
give those businesses that vital edge that they need. It is something that we need to
flag. Governments have got a big role, and going to the heart of your question, in
flagging the type of skills that will be important to the economy, to our people longer
term, and so while there might be some people that wonder - and if they have a
question, "Will this be important, will this be a job to go into long-term?" When you see
Microsoft stump up over $5 billion in this area just for our country, and increase the
number of data centres they've got, that's a pretty powerful signal to people that these
jobs are here for the long-term, and training up for them to be able to take those jobs on
is also critical for people as well, for parents sitting around the kitchen table working out
with their kids what they'll do long-term, I think that's a pretty important signal.

TOM CONNELL: Yeah, well I guess no one wants their kid to go off and do something
where they think it will be obsolete. You'd hope this is going to be the opposite. In terms
of the talent though and what they're going to be doing, there's been so much talk about
AI, and I guess a lot of it has been negative; what it could do, whether it's the end of
civilisation, and that's not me talking, that's Andrew Leigh, in case you want to say I'm
being too negative. What about the pros? Do you tell people, you know, what are
specific exciting elements of about artificial intelligence that you might be telling the
workers of tomorrow?

ED HUSIC: I think getting the balance right when it comes to artificial intelligence is
really important. People have focused on the risk, but the other thing that it's been able
to do is crunch through large amounts of data really quickly and accurately to help
businesses work out how to get things done better, and that's really important for
businesses long-term to survive and to create jobs. And so what we're talking about
here is Microsoft investing in nearly 10 new data centres in Australia, making sure that
they've got the people that can help run those centres, so investing in their development
of their skills, as I call it, the "data tradies" that are really important, working with TAFE,
this investment teams up with TAFE both here and in New South Wales and eventually
Victoria as well, to build up those skills, and being able to show other businesses too by
having those data centres available, by using cloud computing and using artificial
intelligence within it, will help make, and this is why I say it will help Australian
businesses sharpen their edge, do things smarter, quicker, better, more cost effectively.
That's going to be important for them long-term, and stronger businesses mean that
they can hold on to jobs and grow them. So it's a really important message to send to
the broader Australian economy, why we're investing so much in it is about making sure
that we've got a really healthy economy in the long-term, not just for people today, but
for the kids that will follow us in those jobs.

TOM CONNELL: Just briefly, you know, I know a lot of families that haven't had a kid
before go to university sort of can think of it as a bit daunting. When you say, you know,
the tradies, digital tradies, is this a bit of a shortcut to getting a good white-collar job,
that you won't have to go to uni for four or five years or something, and this is a way to
get into the workforce earlier?

ED HUSIC: I guess there's a mix of things. So one will be that there's a whole stack of
people that can go through TAFE to get their digital skills. We're providing TAFE feefree
places, plus the National Skills Agreement to back that type of work up. People
may work in a digital tradie role and decide that they've seen things that they like that
they want to do more of, so they may go on to uni, or they may do another course within
a firm to level up and get new skills. But what this type of investment, either through
what we're doing as a national government, through the Albanese Government's
National Skills Agreement with the States and Territories means that TAFE can be a big
platform to develop those skills, but also sending the broader signal to the economy that
this is stuff we have to lean into. We need to skill up more people here, because if we
get these skills, that 1.2 million tech-related jobs I mentioned earlier by 2030, we're
skilling up the entire economy, we're skilling up wide sections of industry, and as you
know, and as viewers would know, technology's a big part of our workplaces, being able
to have those skills is not going to be a nice-to-have but a must-have long-term.

TOM CONNELL: Yeah. I wanted to ask you finally, 'cause you've had some pretty
forthright views obviously on the situation in Gaza. Reports that have been showing
pretty troubling pictures of hospitals, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, hospitals
running out of power that even include neo-natal units, so premature babies. Who do
you blame for this, the fact these hospitals could run out of fuel?

ED HUSIC: I think the thing that I'm very focused on is understanding, as many people
do, that Israel will respond to the type of horrific events that occurred in their borders on
October 7, and they're undertaking an exercise now to hold Hamas to account, and
being able to do so in a way that, as we have said as a government, upholds
international law, international humanitarian law, protects innocent lives while holding
Hamas to account, is going to be really, really important. And that's what we've
emphasised. It's in Israel's interests long-term to be able to deal with Hamas as quickly
as they can. They have said they want to be able to stop Hamas in its tracks from
presenting a threat to Israel, and we, a lot of us understand that. But we also want to
make sure that they do so in a way that they protect innocent lives, and longer-term the
biggest thing we've got to get to is to finally sort out that two-state solution, moving it
from talk to walk, and seeing that happen, cause that is in the interests of peace in that
part of the world for the long-term.

TOM CONNELL: Is it possible for Israel to do that though if Hamas is, as has been
reported in the past, keeping civilians near where their military capabilities are? How
does Israel balance their right with the right of those civilians if they are being held
there?

ED HUSIC: Well, Hamas, I think, is not interested in seeing what I just, and a lot of
people have called for, which is a two-state solution. I think what they did on October 7
set that process back hugely, and this is - clearly, it's not the time to talk or advance a
two-state solution given what we're going through. But as the Prime Minister and others
have emphasised, Hamas's actions have set back the cause for Palestinian statehood.

TOM CONNELL: Ed Husic, appreciate your time today, thank you.

ED HUSIC: Thank you, Tom.