Interactive CEO Alex Coates heralds Labor’s win as an opportunity

The win by the Australian Labor Party in the 2025 federal election on 3 May, provides an opportunity for the Australian government to prioritise investment in and collaboration with the technology industry.

This was also an opportunity to provide additional funding for digital skills development to prevent the nation from falling behind.

Interactive CEO Alex Coates said the lack of focus on technology in the budget announcements was alarming, as it could lead to underinvestment at a critical time.

“Australia is falling behind, especially in AI,” she said. “We need to level up quickly and that requires industry-wide collaboration, not isolated efforts.

“Now more than ever, business and technology are inseparable. Tech isn’t just a cost, it’s the key to growth, competitiveness and innovation.”

According to Coates the country faces uncertainty and rapid change leading to questions of whether “Australia will step up or fall further behind.

“I implore the incoming government to prioritise increased collaboration with the IT industry to drive policy and regulatory shifts post-election,” she said. “Otherwise, there won’t be enough progress across the board, and our industries will come to a standstill at a time when momentum and collaboration are more crucial than ever.”

Coates said the notion of skills development was also constantly evolving, but industry and government need to align on what this means, where we invest and who is responsible for driving the first stages of progress in this area.

“At a grassroots level, it’s no longer just coders we’re training, it’s also electrical engineers,” she said. “In addition, it’s ensuring remote communities who are raising the next generations of skilled workers have access to the internet and phone reception.

“You can’t be what you can’t see, and this applies in particular to First Nations communities.”

In a February interview with ARN, Coates said corporations can only do so much as there is a wider nuanced conversation around digital equity and inclusion.

A lot of the issues that come with needing a skilled workforce for the future can be looked at by onshore capabilities.

“I think that indigenous participation in the workforce is really important,” said Coates. “As are all components of diversity to get to inclusion, which is the one that we really need to work hard at.”

Coates believes that diversity is an outcome of inclusion.

When it comes to innovation and cyber security, these also requires diverse workers in the workspace.

“You need to build a really diverse and competent team around you,” she said. “Then you need to drive cultural values that say we’re going to work at speed in an industry that’s really fast-paced.

“As a CEO, one of the greatest mindsets you can have is agility.”

They are leading teams through change and if they’re not adaptive that becomes a problem.

“You’ve got young, technical people who are eager to learn, they’ve grown up with AI, cybersecurity and automation as part of their world,” she said.

Coates said Interactive’s cybersecurity team are some of the most talented people she’s ever worked with.

“For them, AI isn’t something they need to “learn “it’s just part of how they operate.”

This is why if there is one space that desperately needs diversity, it’s cybersecurity.

“You need creative minds, and I’m seeing that more and more. We have a great partnership with Edith Cowan University where we bring in mid-university students for placements, and they’re some of the most creative, talented people I’ve worked with,” Coates said.

“But at the same time, cybersecurity is about protecting critical assets, and you need structured thinkers too.”

She cautioned that you can’t “just let creativity run wild without direction”, she is a big believer that the “best teams don’t focus on weaknesses, they focus on superpowers”.

“Instead of trying to fix what people aren’t great at, you figure out what their three biggest strengths are and build teams around that,” said Coates.

Coates noted the opportunity ahead for Australian businesses is exciting.

“We have never been at a better moment to have business and technology combine powers and elevate our capability nationally, and I want our efforts to usher in new era of progress,” she said. “While our market is insulated geopolitically, the potential for national behavioural shifts to harness this intersection is real and present.”