A Labor politician left attendees at Australia’s top tech conference scratching their heads after giving a long speech about how ‘A-one’ was reshaping society.
Victoria’s Parliamentary Employment Secretary Bronwyn Halfpenny was presumably referring to AI, or artificial intelligence, during her pre-written speech at the $1,500-a-ticket National Technology Summit in Melbourne.
She told the crowd how ‘A-one’ was revolutionizing the economy, that ‘A-one’ would become a permanent part of Australia in the future and how the job market would have to change to accommodate ‘A-one’ Nine Newspapers reported. .
Halfpenny later attempted to make light of the embarrassing mistake by posting a photo of herself posing with staff at the A1 bakery in Brunswick, Melbourne, on Thursday.
“Should have been here Tuesday when A1 Bakery was on my mind,” she captioned the photo posted to her social media accounts.
‘I finally made it today. Thanks to Grace and Jules for the delicious food as always!’
The place, while a popular cafe serving well-reviewed Lebanese baked goods, has nothing to do with artificial intelligence.
Ms. Halfpenny’s speech was delivered in front of some of the country’s biggest tech movers and shakers; Atlassian co-founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, Canva co-founder Cliff Obrecht, and Google engineering director Roisin Parkes also spoke at the event.
Victorian MP Bronwyn Halfpenny (pictured at A1 bakery, centre) repeatedly called artificial intelligence “A-one” while speaking at the country’s largest technology conference.
He then tried to joke that he was referring to a bakery with the same name in an embarrassing post on his X account which has only one post and one follower (pictured).
Richard Welch, Victorian Liberal member for the North East Metropolitan Region, later tweeted that the speech made him “cry for Victoria”.
Federal Minister of Industry and Science Ed Husic, who was there to let the sector know that the Albanian government had its back, must have been especially mortified.
“Thank you to Bronwyn Halfpenny MP for her support of the tech industry as a whole,” wrote the Tech Council of Australia organizer.
Ms Halfpenny, the state member for Thomastown, previously worked as assistant secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union’s food and confectionery division and as an industrial officer at the Victorian Trades Hall Council.
Halfpenny delivers speech at Tech Council of Australia’s National Technology Summit
Scott Farquhar, co-founder and CEO of global software company Atlassian, was at the summit.
The event cost non-Tech Council members $1,550 to attend, which included welcome drinks, two days of speeches and a gala dinner, while members were charged $1,250.
According to the Tech Council’s website, it “works with governments at all levels to ensure Australia and Australians can take advantage of the enormous opportunities technology offers.”
“We advise and collaborate with Australian governments, businesses and the wider community to help support the continued creation, development and adoption of technology across all industries.”
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Halfpenny and the Tech Council for comment.