Bowen Pan

50% of Australians say access to nature is what makes a place liveable. Why isn’t that in our definition of productivity? The RBA defines productivity as output per hour worked. Useful, yes. But incomplete. Because productivity isn’t built in spreadsheets — it’s built in communities. The Living in Australia 2025 survey asked nearly 5,000 people what makes a place liveable. 50% said access to nature — behind only safety and affordable housing. Australians rated access to green space 7.6/10 nationally — compared with just 4.5/10 for housing. And those with excellent access to nature reported better health (7.0 vs 5.9/10), lower stress, and stronger community ties. That’s not lifestyle fluff. That’s productivity. Healthy, connected communities mean stronger workforce participation, lower health costs, and more resilient local economies. Yet too often, housing growth is planned without accounting for green space, transport or health access. At .id, this is why we build independent, hyper-local evidence bases: to give leaders the full picture of place when making decisions that shape our future. It’s time to expand Australia’s definition of productivity — from measuring outputs, to recognising the liveability foundations that truly drive them.

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As good as it gets ... I recently posted that if NVIDIA - the largest company in the world and one with a fair degree of hype in the price - can guide the market to its earnings without much fanfare, then there was no reason Australian corporates couldn’t do the same. Last night we saw another example of best practise by the most important central bank in the world - the US Federal Reserve. Despite high expectations, record equity markets, elevated political pressure and arguably some two-way data, the Fed cut rates and at the same time delivered a message to the market that did not materially disappoint or cause anxiety. At the same time, it left itself enough wiggle room to alter course if needed. Compare that to a recent policy rate decision closer to home where every economist (and market expectations) were wrong footed by (lets say) 100%. As for the implications. The risk skew heading into the SEP was for disappointment rather than upside surprise, so a neutral (on the day) outcome for markets was a very solid result. The Fed stated that policy was restrictive and now inappropriate, that inflation was less of a concern, that the labour market was more of a concern but that it remains data dependent. It gave the market a path to 4 cuts instead of 6, but the Fed was always going to keep something in reserve if required (or not). The bull market remains intact and the Fed did nothing to disrupt it. The oxygen remains turned on for small/mid-caps, cyclicals and value while it has not been turned off for high multiple growth just yet. #TenCap, #JasonTodd, #Fed, #BullMarket

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I asked my Co-pilot to summarize the NZTech report that was released yesterday, Graeme Muller. https://lnkd.in/gKGtijaA For those who don't have the time to read the report based on New Zealand facts (which I highly recommend you do) here is the Summary. Thanks Microsoft copilot. The page you're viewing is a comprehensive report titled "Empowering Aotearoa New Zealand’s Digital Future", focused on the strategic importance, current landscape, and future potential of data centres in New Zealand. Here's a summary of the main points: 🧠 Strategic Importance of Data Centres Data centres are the backbone of New Zealand’s digital infrastructure, powering everything from government services and healthcare to e-commerce, AI, and cloud computing. They are essential for economic growth, digital resilience, and sustainability. 📊 Current Landscape 56 operational data centres across New Zealand, with 20 more planned or under construction. Most are located near major cities like Auckland for proximity to users, skilled talent, and connectivity. The sector supports $16.5B in ICT GDP and enables $76.5B in knowledge-intensive services. ⚡ Energy Efficiency & Sustainability NZ data centres have an average Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.3, better than the global average of 1.54. Many centres are shifting to 100% renewable energy, using Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) to support wind, solar, and geothermal projects. Innovations include liquid cooling, closed-loop water systems, and reuse of waste heat. 👷‍♀️ Job Creation & Economic Impact Over 1,000 direct jobs and 6,800 indirect jobs supported by the sector. Up to 15,000 construction jobs expected from planned investments. The sector is forecast to double its workforce by 2030. 🌏 Export Opportunity NZ is well-positioned to become a regional hub for sustainable digital services, thanks to its cool climate, renewable energy, and political stability. Projects like Datagrid’s $5B hyperscale park in Southland and AWS’s $7.5B investment highlight global interest. 🏛️ Policy Recommendations Form a Data Centre Industry Ministerial Advisory Group to: Streamline planning and grid access. Accelerate renewable energy growth. Align demand with capacity. 📈 Forecasts By 2030, data centres are expected to consume 1.6–2.2% of NZ’s electricity. Deployed capacity projected to grow from 104MW to 315MW. Electricity demand will rise with AI adoption and digital transformation. 🌿 Sustainability Leadership NZ’s data centres are among the most efficient globally. Operators like Microsoft, Spark, and CDC are pioneering water-free cooling, renewable energy integration, and carbon reduction strategies. Would you like a visual summary or talking points tailored for a presentation or board discussion? Martijn Verburg

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Federal Roundtable Risks Missing the $116 Billion AI Prize The Australian Treasurer’s Economic Reform Roundtable begins today, and it’s already overlooking the single biggest lever for productivity this century: Artificial Intelligence. From the steam engine to the internet, every major leap in productivity has been driven by technology. AI is the next, and perhaps the most transformative, step. The Productivity Commission estimates Australia could gain $116 billion if we accelerate AI adoption. Yet when Treasurer Jim Chalmers gathers a star-studded guest list in Canberra, few in the room will have the expertise to speak with authority on the AI challenge. This is not a minor omission. And I will find it particularly ironic if the 900 submissions have been summarised by Generative AI, instead of having a credible resource in the room. Australia’s problem is not that we lack access to AI tools, it’s that we don’t trust them. Not as individuals, not as consumers, and certainly not in the C-suite. The evidence is stark. A recent KPMG and University of Melbourne study of 48,000 people across 47 countries found Australia ranked dead last in believing AI’s benefits outweigh its risks - just 30 per cent of Australians agreed. Without trust, adoption (and productivity) will stall. Trust rests on two pillars: transparency and data sovereignty. Transparency means knowing what data an AI model was trained on, how it was obtained, and what biases are embedded. That’s not information we will get from a US mega-tech provider - not now, not ever. Data sovereignty means ensuring Australian data stays under Australian control, from storage to processing. Many “onshore” AI services quietly send your information offshore for processing on GPUs located in the US, Brazil or beyond. Most Australians have no idea this is happening. If we want teachers, doctors, lawyers - anyone in critical roles - to embrace AI, they must know the systems they use are trained on Australian-relevant data and their inputs never leave our jurisdiction. This is achievable through sovereign models and federated learning, where data is used for training without ever leaving the state in which it resides. Tesla chair Robyn Denholm is right to warn that we are still in “inning zero” of the AI game and that if we only adopt AI, we might see a $115 billion benefit, but if we build and own the technology, the returns could be ten times greater. That future won’t happen without urgent action now. Yet none of this will reach the Treasurer’s ears if the right voices aren’t in the room. By ignoring AI trust, the roundtable risks squandering the $116 billion productivity prize. If we fail to act now, Australia will fall further behind and no amount of post-summit spin will disguise that failure.

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