Governments across the world are paying attention to the impact of fintech and AI across their ecosystems. However, in its latest Budget 2025, the Australian government failed to put a spotlight on either of these sectors, causing industry participants to voice their concerns.
In the Budget, the Australian government reflects on the country’s success in rebounding growth, while keeping unemployment and interest rates low. The Budget delivers on the Government’s economic plan, which is focused on finishing the fight against inflation, rolling out responsible cost-of-living relief and building a stronger economy and budget.
While the main areas for concern are identified as medicare, the cost-of-living, the ability to buy and rent a home, education investment and building a stronger economy, the fintech and AI sectors are hardly recognised as potential problem solvers to these challenges.
Fintech is a solution to the issues raised
Voicing concerns about the lack of fintech’s inclusion in the budget, Rehan D’Almeida, CEO, FinTech Australia, the entity engaging and collaborating with Australian governments, businesses and the broader community, said: “This latest budget has seen fintech fall off the Federal Government’s agenda, which is a shame, as it perhaps one of the greatest solutions to boosting productivity and addressing cost of living.
“Those two points could be seen as the major themes of this budget. But the Consumer Data Right, which was allocated funding in prior budgets, was championed previously as a solution for both.
“Beyond this, we welcome a cautious approach toward surcharging, which is hinted at in the papers, but talked around in Chalmer’s Budget Address. Empowering the ACCC to address excessive surcharging is the right move forward. But we’re still wary that an outright ban could actually set the payments industry backwards and, in turn, inadvertently hurt consumers.
“The Future Made in Australia and National Productivity Fund are welcome commitments. We would welcome more discussion about how this could better interact with both the startup and fintech ecosystem to drive growth. A good start would be a discussion on the R&D Tax Incentive, for which a review was canvassed ahead of this budget, but failed to get a mention in the papers.”
No mention of AI
Exploring how the lack of AI might impact the development points, Anish Sinha, co-founder, UpCover, the insurance firm for small startups, added: “Australia has delivered a budget that does not mention AI once. While this isn’t the first time this has happened, it is now becoming increasingly unusual as other major global governments and funds prepare to spend billions on securing a foothold with this new technology.
“That, in itself, sets the tone for a federal budget that has so little to say about technology, that any sparse mention of a policy becomes a focal point. In that regard, this year’s budget has its sights firmly, and rightly, set on cybersecurity, which we know from our customers is a major issue for small businesses. A breach can cost a business anywhere in the ballpark of $50,000 to resolve.
“But when you do some napkin math, the Federal Government is today committing roughly $20 per business towards protecting them. Considering the hardship faced by a breach, and the impact it can have on a business, this hardly seems appropriate.
“Much like Australia’s Front Door programme, the UK also introduced a similar policy regarding overseas investment. But rather than encourage more investors, it simply created another barrier for investment. While more capital is always better, could the funds be better spent unlocking capital in Australia? We know from dealing with high-net-worths and family offices that so much of their wealth is still locked in property. With the right settings, that help derisk their investment, that could be redeployed towards startups.
“The details aren’t all here, and we’re still yet to see what will come out of an impending election. But even digging a teaspoon into the bigger picture policies of this budget that affect business sees them unravel.”
