Why stem in primary school is the secret to australia’s productivity crisis.
MOVING BEYOND BAND-AIDS: WHY PRODUCTIVITY STARTS AT AGE FIVE
So many things can benefit from early invention. Currently, Australia’s productivity debate is trapped in a loop of tax, IR reform and migration. But what if the real solution starts in primary school?
As a parent of a child on the spectrum, I know firsthand that early intervention isn’t just a “nice to have” – it is the critical step that ensures a child gets the right support at the right time to thrive. Why aren’t we looking at our national economy through that same lens?
I am a naturalised Australian. While I’m deeply grateful for the opportunities this “wide brown land” has afforded me, I refuse to shy away from pointing out where we could do better. Too often, our governments reach for reactive, short-term “band-aids” rather than foundational investments.
Think back to the $900 GFC handouts. That was “free money for votes” that could have been a generation-defining investment in infrastructure or education. Similarly, the recent Under-16 social media ban feels like burying our heads in the sand “dodo style.” You don’t solve toxicity by hiding from it; you solve it through the same logic as the online safety classes schools run every year: education and literacy.
This is where my views align with Kate Ashmor, Founder and Chair of the Tom Ashmor Foundation. She argues that Australia’s productivity crisis is a “pipeline problem” – we are simply investing too late.
Ms. Ashmor’s op-ed makes a powerful case for early intervention. She highlights how her late husband Tom’s life was transformed by a single computer in primary school – a “simple act of exposure” that altered his entire trajectory. While the government worries about “policy tweaks,” Kate is focused on the foundational level: giving public primary students the robotics, coding, and STEM tools they need before they lose their natural curiosity.
If we want to fix our productivity – which the OECD now ranks near the bottom of advanced economies – we have to stop the reactive spending and start the early intervention. As Kate puts it, “Productivity cannot be rebuilt through policy tweaks alone. It must be cultivated deliberately, starting early.”
Ms Ashmor’s full op-ed follows.
THE PRODUCTIVITY DEBATE IS MISSING ONE CRITICAL FACTOR: PRIMARY SCHOOL STEM
By Kate Ashmor, Founder, Tom Ashmor Foundation
Imagine a future Australia where science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) underpins our high standard of living. Where innovation anchors everything we do, and we lead the world with a clean, smart and inclusive economy. Advanced manufacturing. High-paying jobs. A nation others aspire to emulate.
This isn’t a theoretical vision. Australia can evolve into a highly productive economy but only if we invest in our future workforce deliberately and early. And that investment must start early, at primary school, when curiosity is strongest and ambition is still unshaped by bias. That belief sits at the heart of the newly launched Tom Ashmor Foundation (TAF).
My children and I established TAF not only to honour my late husband, Tom Ashmor’s legacy. The Foundation is focused on one clear mission: equipping public primary schools with the essential practical STEM resources they need to inspire the next generation of innovators, engineers and problem-solvers.
Tom Ashmor was a celebrated leader in Australia’s IT, digital and start-up sectors. He tragically passed away in early 2024 at just 44, following a rare autoimmune condition. After immigrating from Israel to Melbourne in 2001, Tom taught himself to code, despite having no tertiary education and coming from a humble background. He went on to become one of Australia’s most respected technical directors and creative thinkers, working alongside leading digital entrepreneurs including Larry Kestelman and Harold Mitchell, before co-founding ShadowBoxer with four partners, including Konrad Spilva. The agency was acquired by Reece Group shortly after Tom’s passing.
Tom’s story matters because it demonstrates what’s possible when talent is nurtured early. When Tom was in primary school, a relative bought him a computer. That simple act of exposure altered the trajectory of his life. It’s a reminder that access determines outcomes and that brilliance exists everywhere, if we give children the tools to discover it.
TAF was also established to respond to an urgent gap in public education. With TAF’s support, Gardenvale Primary School in Victoria has purchased robotics kits, 3D printers, purpose-built furniture and scientific equipment to supercharge its STEM program. Hundreds of students from Prep to Grade Six now attend weekly STEM sessions, learning to code algorithms and exploring future STEM pathways.
Two more Victorian public primary schools have received grants this month, with a third to follow soon. Future grants are dependent on donations. TAF is a Public Ancillary Fund with Deductible Gift Recipient status, and all donations are tax deductible.
The initial cohort of schools was selected based on a clear commitment to making STEM a core part of their curriculum, with dedicated classrooms, specialist teachers and a readiness to scale their programs. From 2027, support will extend beyond Victoria, with a national application process for public primary schools.
Our vision is clear and ambitious: every Australian child, regardless of gender, physical ability, religion, socio-economic background or postcode, should have access to a world-class STEM education. Primary school is when young minds are most open, before assumptions take hold about who “belongs” in science or technology.
The urgency is undeniable. Australia’s productivity growth is now among the worst in the developed world. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Australia ranked in the bottom two of 35 advanced economies for productivity growth between 2019 and 2024, outperforming only Mexico. This places Australia behind almost every comparable advanced economy, despite our strong institutions, skilled population and economic advantages.
This is not a short-term dip. It reflects years of underinvestment in innovation, technology capability and workforce skills, particularly at the foundational level. Productivity cannot be rebuilt through policy tweaks alone. It must be cultivated deliberately, starting early.
The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering warns we could face a shortfall of 200,000 STEM-skilled workers by 2030 without decisive, structural action. An ageing population, record-low fertility rates, rapid advances in artificial intelligence and intensifying global competition only sharpen the risk.
The OECD has consistently emphasised that countries with resilient, high-performing economies embed digital capability, applied problem-solving and STEM literacy early in education, long before students enter the workforce. Today’s primary school students are tomorrow’s employers and employees, the innovators who will shape industries we have not yet imagined.
At a time when Australia’s social cohesion is being tested, we also need shared national pursuits that promote opportunity, optimism and egalitarianism. A standardised approach to excellence in primary school STEM education is not just an economic investment, it is a nation-defining one.
We don’t have to imagine a more productive future. We know how to build it. The question is whether we are prepared to invest early enough to secure it, by backing the next generation of Australian STEM talent before it’s too late.