{"id":45083,"date":"2023-10-20T15:40:59","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:40:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/wyatt-roy-on-losing-his-seat-his-proudest-moments-and-what-comes-next-i-wouldnt-change-anything-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:40:59","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:40:59","slug":"wyatt-roy-on-losing-his-seat-his-proudest-moments-and-what-comes-next-i-wouldnt-change-anything-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/wyatt-roy-on-losing-his-seat-his-proudest-moments-and-what-comes-next-i-wouldnt-change-anything-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Wyatt Roy on losing his seat, his proudest moments and what comes next: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t change anything\u201d – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

After six years as the youngest ever Australian MP, Wyatt Roy is packing up his office.<\/p>\n

Nearly a week after the polls closed, Roy conceded defeat in his seat of Longman, becoming arguably the biggest Coalition casualty of the nail-biting election.<\/p>\n

Speaking to StartupSmart<\/em> while in the middle of removing boxes from the Queensland office, Roy says the election loss has been a \u201ccharacter-building exercise\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learnt from the innovation space that if you are to really succeed in life you need to have some failure along the way,\u201d Roy tells StartupSmart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe result will be very, very close but if the trend continues, the trend is not our friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the result seemed inevitable from early last week, Roy only conceded defeat last Friday, admitted that Labor candidate Susan Lamb had won the seat.<\/p>\n

In a lengthy Facebook post, the Queensland native thanks his volunteers and supporters, and voiced his excitement about going back to “being just 26”.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the great startup champions\u201d<\/h3>\n

Roy\u2019s disappointment is obvious, but he already has had a chance to begin reflecting on his six years in government.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been able to take a step back and have a look at everything I\u2019ve achieved at 26,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spent one in five days on Earth as a member of parliament, and I think I\u2019ve changed my local community for the better and particularly in the innovation space we\u2019ve started a very vital conversation for the future of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

After becoming the youngest ever person to be elected to Parliament in 2010, Roy quickly began advocating for the startup and innovation sectors, long before they were thrust into the national spotlight by Turnbull late last year.<\/p>\n

According to StartupAUS CEO Alex McCauley<\/a>, he is \u201cone of the great Australian startup champions\u201d.<\/p>\n

He was one of the first Liberal MPs to publicly back Turnbull\u2019s challenge of Tony Abbott, and was quickly rewarded with the innovation position in the new Cabinet, becoming the government\u2019s spokesperson on all things startups.<\/p>\n

Roy says his proudest achievement across his time in office was the role he played in the development of the government\u2019s flagship $1 billion National Innovation and Science Agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it\u2019s not easy to realise how difficult it is to get a reform package done up, especially in a short space of time,\u201d Roy says.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of those big moments have already occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n

Making a choice<\/h3>\n

The quick rise under Turnbull and uncompromising focus on innovation may have been his undoing though, with the regional Queensland electorate that Roy represented clearly not identifying with this message.<\/p>\n

While also pointing to Labor\u2019s campaign on Medicare and the rise of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party in Queensland, Roy admits this may have contributed to his downfall, but he doesn\u2019t regret it for a second.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to make a choice in politics: between what is right for the country and what is politically popular,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing nothing is popular but there\u2019s no point being in politics if you\u2019re going to do nothing.<\/p>\n

“We have changed this country for the better and it will continue with the Turnbull government in the future.<\/p>\n

“I wouldn’t change anything.”<\/p>\n

Roy was a loud voice in Parliament for the sector and although this may have had a negative impact with his local constituents, he says this was a deliberate choice to try to make a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitically it is very popular to hide under a donna and do nothing, but the reality is that we live in a changing world,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs policy-makers it\u2019s up to us to rise to that challenge and seize the opportunities of the changing world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not easy politically but it is absolutely necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Australian startup community has voiced concerns about the lack of discussion around startup and innovation policies throughout the marathon election campaign<\/a>, but Roy says he is confident that this will remain a focus for the newly elected Coalition government.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernments move at a slower pace than the private sector but now we have a very strong foundation to build from with the National Innovation and Science Agenda,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no doubt that the Turnbull government will continue to implement those policies and move on to new ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are also concerns about how the rag-tag Senate, filled with independents, will act on these policies that were formally bipartisan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important that people are reaching out to them and talking about the importance of innovation,\u201d Roy says.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow is the time to continue the conversation, not shy away from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

What comes next<\/h3>\n

The young, now former politician says he\u2019ll likely end up working in the innovation sector, but there\u2019s one important thing that comes first: a holiday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to starting the next chapter of my life,\u201d Roy says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still early days but there are amazing opportunities for anyone that wants to be involved in the Australian innovation ecosystem. Perhaps I might find myself playing a different role in the private sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also excited about the prospect of being involved in the space from outside of politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been incredibly excited and passionate about the Australian innovation ecosystem,\u201d Roy says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have so much potential as a country and to be involved in that conversation from the private sector as opposed to the government is pretty excited.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is that I\u2019m looking forward to what will be a very different life. Let\u2019s see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter, <\/em>LinkedIn <\/em>and <\/em>SoundCloud.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After six years as the youngest ever Australian MP, Wyatt Roy is packing up his office. Nearly a week after<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,6,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45083"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}