Director of Enterprise at UNSW Nigel Phair says the Australian Signals Directorate needs “really smart, techy, mathematician-type people".
It comes as the federal budget announced almost $10 billion to boost Australia’s cyber capacities.
Mr Phair said potential ASD cyber staff are all currently working in consultancy firms.
“We really need to be going back to probably, people in year seven and eight so they do maths in year nine and ten,” he told Sky News Australia.
“So they are up to the aptitude for the hard subjects in years 11 and 12 so they can do the really high-end degrees after school. Then by 23, they’re rockstars.”
