Perth will be home to an Australia a blockchain academy if labor goes on to win the general elections slated for May 8. This will be a first in the country and will definitely excite a lot of crypto enthusiasts in the country.
In a joint statement made yesterday by the Shadow minister for the Digital economy Ed Husic, alongside Shadow minister assisting for small business madeleine king, as well as WA MPs Matt Keogh, and Patrick Gorman, the current opposition party has plans to make the blockchain institution a reality. They went on to label the nascent technology “a secure and more trusted technology platform”
The statement read;
“Labor wants to drive skills and training through the Blockchain Academy, teaming up with education and training providers from the vocational and tertiary sectors,”
It went on to say;
“The Blockchain Academy’s location in Perth will provide a focal point for the Blockchain based startups and firms that are already flourishing in the city.”
As part of the academy, labor will look to up skill interested developers in blockchain specific development, sourcing students from the tertiary sector as well as the vocational training institutions. Labor will also look into connecting these students with suitable job opportunities with startups, as well as corporates; while also potentially hosting researchers, and acting as a venue for events.
According to the shadow ministers,
“The Liberal Government has failed to tackle major tech skills shortages that are holding back Australian businesses,”
“Labor wants to address this, investing in Australians to develop job skills that are in high demand now and into the future” they said.
If labor goes on to win the election and is successful at putting up the blockchain academy in Perth, it will then move-on to other cities and do the same. Labor’s interest in the blockchain is likely to be due to the massive interest the sector has gotten since the big boom in 2017-18. The excitement has eased off though, with the biting crypto winter that soon followed. This does not however mean that interest in the sector has died down completely.
Labor’s $3 million pitch for Perth, in a state that has produced legendary local success stories such as Power Ledger, will spur a lot of local blockchain startups. It may also run the risk of being a seen as money better spent elsewhere, by blockchain skeptics and founders across the country.
The government’s Digital transformation agency revealed the results of a 6 month feasibility study into the technology’s feasibility stating that;
“It would be our position today that blockchain would be well worth being observed but without standardization and a lot of work to come in it, for every use of blockchain you would consider today there’s a better technology alternative,”
It certainly appears that labor’s win might just spur a heightened interest towards crypto-currency in Australia which is always a good thing for those of us in the space.
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