The State of the Australian Digital Infrastructure

Bevan Slattery (Founder of Cloudscene, Superloop, Megaport, NEXTDC and Co-Founder PIPE Networks), reflects on cloud evolution. With organisations now needing 25% more compute power over the next two years, cloud is firmly embedded in enterprise strategy. Bevan underscores Australia’s challenge in global innovation, ranking 23rd, and raises the critical question of how to rewire the country’s digital infrastructure. His own work through Soda, including the SMAP subsea cable project (Sydney–Melbourne–Adelaide–Perth), aims to create a secure, high-capacity backbone, essential for supporting cloud, AI, and sovereign compute.

Bevan explains Australia’s opportunity to become a strategic digital hub in the Indo-Pacific, particularly as global tensions and shallow sea routes (like the South China Sea) risk cable security and repair. He stresses that digital sovereignty must be a collective effort, not left solely to government. Drawing on international experience, Bevan highlights the role of industry in building trusted infrastructure, noting that accidental or bureaucratic…