AI Skills for the Future - Northern Australia to Contribute to the National AI Capability
Tracks
Concurrent Room 4
| Thursday, August 6, 2026 |
| 11:00 AM - 11:20 AM |
| Concurrent Room 4 |
Overview
Tim Burt, Future Skills Organisation
Details
1. What the National AI Skills Report is tracking—and why it matters for jobs, skills and training.
2. Where Northern Australia may face distinct AI skill needs, risks and opportunities (including for First Nations communities).
3. Practical, place based priorities to shape the November update.
Speaker
Mr Tim Burt
Director, Strategy + Planning
Future Skills Organisation
AI skills for the future – NA to contribute to the National AI Skills Report
Presentation Overview
Australia’s shift toward an AI driven economy is reshaping jobs, industries and the skills people need to thrive. At the direction of Federal Ministers, Future Skills Organisation (FSO) is producing a biannual National AI Skills Report to inform the National AI Plan.
The inaugural edition (May 2026) establishes a national baseline on four questions:
• What are the skills Australia needs to compete?
• Where is the skills investment, and where are the gaps?
• How to mobilise the nation around AI skills?
• How can First Nations considerations meaningfully shape the impact of Ai?
This 60 minute workshop brings that national conversation to Northern Australia. We’ll share a concise, practical snapshot of insights from the current Report -what’s changing in the workplace, where capability gaps are emerging, and what this means for industries and communities across the north.
Participants will then work in small groups to develop place based input for the November update of the Report. Using guided prompts, groups will identify:
• priority AI related skills for local industries and services
• barriers to adoption and training (including for regional, SMEs and First Nations communities)
• What / where are the generalist skills gaps that need to be addressed to support the successful use of AI.
• opportunities to link people, place and development through safe, inclusive AI use.
FSO will synthesise participant insights (and attribute with permission) into the November Report, ensuring Northern Australia’s distinctive contexts of culture, climate, geography and industry inform national policy and investment settings.
The inaugural edition (May 2026) establishes a national baseline on four questions:
• What are the skills Australia needs to compete?
• Where is the skills investment, and where are the gaps?
• How to mobilise the nation around AI skills?
• How can First Nations considerations meaningfully shape the impact of Ai?
This 60 minute workshop brings that national conversation to Northern Australia. We’ll share a concise, practical snapshot of insights from the current Report -what’s changing in the workplace, where capability gaps are emerging, and what this means for industries and communities across the north.
Participants will then work in small groups to develop place based input for the November update of the Report. Using guided prompts, groups will identify:
• priority AI related skills for local industries and services
• barriers to adoption and training (including for regional, SMEs and First Nations communities)
• What / where are the generalist skills gaps that need to be addressed to support the successful use of AI.
• opportunities to link people, place and development through safe, inclusive AI use.
FSO will synthesise participant insights (and attribute with permission) into the November Report, ensuring Northern Australia’s distinctive contexts of culture, climate, geography and industry inform national policy and investment settings.
Biography
Tim Burt is the Director, Strategy and Planning at Future Skills Organisation, with responsibility for workforce planning, data and research, and policy. Since commencing July 2023, Tim has overseen delivery of three Workforce Plans for the Finance, Technology and Business sectors and undertaken research on the impact of AI on the FTB workforce and Vocational Education and Training.
Prior to FSO, Tim held senior roles at Business NSW, Urbis and NSW Health, which included responsibility for strategic workforce planning across the health system, intergovernmental negotiations on workforce initiatives and the design and implementation of recruitment and retention strategies.
