Robyn Denholm, chair of beleaguered car manufacturer Tesla, is stepping down as inaugural chair of industry lobby group The Tech Council of Australia (TCA), after 3.5 years in the role.
She will be replaced by Atlassian cofounder Scott Farquhar, who stepped away from his day job as co-CEO last year, and has also been on the TCA board since its inception.
The changing of the guard at the TCA’s board, which includes billionaires Cliff Obrecht from Canva and Anthony Eisen from Afterpay, comes as Denholm, a Blackbird partner, oversees a company with a CEO who’s focused on US politics as his car business tanks, with sales plummeting along with Tesla’s share price, and the brand faces global protests.
The founder of Sydney VC Wollemi Capital has also stepped away from her role as an operating partner at Blackbird Ventures, but remains on the VC’s board.
Denholm has sold around US$117 million worth of Tesla stock in recent months and in January, received US court approval over a long-running legal action to settle a case that Tesla’s directors overpaid themselves between 2017 to 2020.
The Tesla chair said during legal battles over CEO Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package that she received “life-changing wealth” of US$280 million during her board tenure, which began in 2014, before she became chair in November 2018.
The settlement, originally struck in 2023 and worth up to US$919 million, includes $277 million in cash, $459 million in stock options and forgoing additional stock options for 2021-23 to be repaid by Denholm and other board members, who includes Musk’s brother Kimbal and James Murdoch.
The directors did not admit wrongdoing.
Locally, there have been concerns that the TCA’s position, calling for caution by the Australian government, which plans to regulate and increase taxes on global digital services companies, after US president Donald Trump after he signed an executive order to penalise countries such as Australia if they “unfairly” tax US tech.
Google, ebay, Adobe, Uber, IBM, Accenture, Stripe and Microsoft are among the Tech Council’s global tech members.
This week Trump put 25% tariffs on Australian steel and aluminium.
The TCA was also criticised last year as a slew of allegations involving former board member and WiseTech founder Richard White, when it told members “it continues to assess and monitor the matter closely” amid calls to sack him. The now WiseTech chair resigned from the TCA board later than day, just four months after his appointment.
Grapevine cofounder Jessy Wu accused the Tech Council of being “completely spineless” and lacking the “moral courage” to sack White.
A privilege
Robyn Denholm said leading the Tech Council of Australia had been a privilege.
“We have worked to establish the tech sector as a critical pillar of Australia’s economy, securing bipartisan support for key initiatives and shaping policies that enable Australian innovation to thrive,” she said.
“I am incredibly proud of what we have achieved together— including our bipartisan jobs goal, critical changes to migration policy and my ongoing work on Australia’s R&D review. I look forward to continuing to support the TCA as a Board member.”
Denholm was tapped in December last year by the federal government to review Australia’s R&D system.
The change in who sits at the top of the Tech Council table will take effect in late March.
Scott Farquhar, TCA’s incoming chair, said tech now has a unified voice on the national stage.
“The TCA was founded on the belief that technology is a fundamental driver of economic growth, job creation, and national competitiveness. I’m proud to take on the role of Chair and help continue the work we started in advocating for a thriving tech ecosystem,” he said.
“As we look ahead, there is enormous potential to expand our advocacy in critical areas like digital infrastructure, consumer energy, and emerging technology. I look forward to working closely with governments, industry leaders, and innovators to ensure Australia remains a world-class tech powerhouse.”
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