"We've confirmed it's still entirely the government's decision to make at this point so the more we can get industry and others talking about it and expressing their views the better, that's the way democracy is supposed to work," Mr Cannon-Brookes said.

The PwC report Unlocking Sydney's Innovation Potential makes a strong case the NSW government should keep ATP as a technology hub with Atlassian as an anchor tenant rather than selling it off as a generic business park.

The analysis says a successful innovation hub would realise $390 million in economic benefits over 10 years, compared with other uses for the site, galvanise technology entrepreneurship and stem the brain drain of successful start-ups and high-growth businesses offshore.

Global headquarters retention opportunity

The report specifically raises the spectre of Atlassian, one of Australia's most successful technology companies, moving offshore, by arguing that the firm's vision for ATP would allow it to retain its global headquarters and hundreds of highly skilled jobs in Australia.

The PwC report says the economic benefits of Atlassian's plan for ATP would come through the increased labour productivity of innovation and start-up businesses, based on immediate employment of 1500 in 2020 and rising to between 4000 and 7000 within 10 years. On average technology workers earn 33 per cent more than the average worker and Atlassian workers are paid more than twice the average income across all industries, the report says.

The report also suggests that every direct job created through ATP could support an additional five indirect jobs, based on work by economist Enrico Moretti on the job multiplier effect of 'hot innovation hubs'.

This comes against a backdrop of declining innovation indicators for Australia mentioned in the report – for example, the Digital Evolution Index listing Australia as a "stall out" nation that is losing momentum and at risk of falling behind.


ATP has been designated as a technology park since the 1990s but it's widely acknowledged it has not lived up to its potential. Some of the land remains undeveloped, other sections are filled with multinational tenants, and the site is empty after office hours.

Mr Cannon-Brookes said the reason it hasn't worked to date is because no one from the technology industry is there providing leadership, which Atlassian would do.

About four daily enquiries

"The fact that it might disappear has made people think about what's wrong with it and what might fix it, so one of the things we're trying to get to with the property developers and government is a precinct agreement about what that means, such as having activated retail, having things on at night," Mr Cannon-Brookes said.

"It's going to take a lot of different people doing a lot of work but I think we can improve it and even just the government choosing to defend it as a technology park would be a statement that we care about the technology industry."

Mr Cannon-Brookes said he was receiving three or four emails a day from other firms – start-ups, co-working spaces and large international firms – interested in moving to ATP alongside Atlassian since the BRW story earlier this month. He added that existing tenants such as government research firm NICTA and business incubator ATP Innovations were "super-excited" too.

The report references the Brookings Institute's concept of "innovation districts" in urban areas rather than the Silicon Valley model of large corporate campuses that are spatially isolated. In keeping with this idea, Mr Cannon-Brookes dismissed the idea of North Ryde and Macquarie Park, a hub for multinational technology companies in Sydney's north-west, as any kind of equivalent to ATP.

"Redfern is perfect, it's bikable, it's walkable, it's close to major train lines, it's on the way to the airport, it's close enough to the city that you can get in and out easily, and for all the points of the compass it works really well," Mr Cannon-Brookes said. "If you move out to North Ryde you start to have to drive to work and you have all sorts of transportation issues and it would be a bad business outcome for us because we'd lose employees. With ATP the bones of it are great and you've got the locomotives and it's got a soul, it just needs life breathed into it."

The decision rests with NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes who declined to give an interview while the tender process was running, but sent a written statement confirming that the site would be sold with existing zoning and leases."The tender evaluation will involve assessment against financial and non-financial criteria, including alignment with the ATP vision," Mr Stokes said. "The tender is not a price-only tender and will consider wider policy alignment as part of the evaluation process."

Caitlin Fitzsimmons is deputy editor of BRW.