In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- Not established in reviewed sources
- Birthplace
- Not established in reviewed sources
- Country
- Australia
- Nationality
- Not independently established
- Known for
- Establishing Internode and later work in telecommunications governance, battery investment and energy software
- Earned degree
- BSc, University of Adelaide, 1986
- Internode established
- 1991
- Internode sale
- Announced December 2011; completion reported 1 February 2012
- University recognition
- Honorary Doctor of the University, 2024; distinct from his earned BSc
Why this life matters
His career connects technical experimentation with the organisations, capital and customer obligations needed to turn a useful technology into a durable service.
Timeline
Key moments
University qualification
Completes a science degree in applied mathematics and computer science.
Research-network connections
Works with the South Australian team building AARNet connectivity.
Internode established
Begins the internet-services enterprise that later expands nationally.
A company sale
The iiNet transaction is announced and then completed; he moves from executive work towards its board.
NBN Co board service
Serves on the national broadband company’s board after leaving iiNet.
Recognition and a failed investment
Receives an honorary university degree; Redflow enters administration and then liquidation.
Energy software
Describes Energy Autopilot as a startup developing a home-energy management system.
Networking began as technical and institutional collaboration
Hackett completed a University of Adelaide science degree in 1986, studying applied mathematics and computer science. His early career included work with the South Australian team connecting institutions through AARNet. This placed him within a collaborative research-network effort, rather than making him the sole inventor of Australia’s internet.
The work joined technical experimentation to practical service: a connection needed equipment, routing, access arrangements and people able to keep it functioning. His later commercial career retained that combination. A demonstration could attract attention, but reliability and support were what turned connectivity into something customers could depend on.
Internode converted connectivity into a business
He established Internode in 1991. Its subsequent history spans institutional connections, carrier infrastructure and consumer broadband. The company grew beyond its Adelaide base, participating in a market where technical capability had to coexist with the cost of reaching customers and obtaining wholesale access.
Its corporate history records network and broadband milestones, but the company was more than its founder’s engineering interests. Staff built and supported the service, while regulation and the infrastructure available from other carriers shaped its possibilities. That setting helps explain why scale, backhaul and integration later became important parts of the sale discussion.
The sale changed ownership before it changed every public association
The sale to iiNet was announced in December 2011. Internode’s subsequent account and contemporary SmartCompany reporting place completion on 1 February 2012. The consideration mixed cash with iiNet shares, making Hackett a substantial shareholder in the acquiring group rather than simply leaving the industry.
In May 2012 the company announced his intended transition from executive duties to the iiNet board that August. He later served on NBN Co’s board from November 2013 to April 2016. These were different roles: founding an ISP, being a shareholder and overseeing a national infrastructure company did not give him the same operational authority.
Investment moved some of his attention towards energy
Hackett established the Base64 family investment office in late 2012. Battery developer Redflow became a significant part of his later work as an investor and executive. The move involved a different challenge from selling internet access: physical products had to be manufactured consistently, supported in the field and financed through a long commercialisation process.
His public interest in energy systems also extended to his own installations. A 2025 post describes replacing a Redflow installation following the company’s demise. It provides evidence of his own response to a failed business, not an independent engineering comparison or a promise that another product will perform better for every customer.
Redflow’s failure is part of the business record
Redflow entered voluntary administration in August 2024. Creditors resolved to wind up the companies on 15 November, when liquidators were appointed. ABC’s December investigation reported manufacturing and reliability problems, customer experiences and the company’s difficulty securing further funding.
Hackett, a former executive and later consultant, acknowledged manufacturing problems and investor fatigue in that reporting. The episode should not be reduced either to a success story about an alternative battery or to an unsupported personal legal accusation. Product reliability, warranty obligations, financing and the losses borne by customers and investors were all material to the outcome.
Later work combines another venture with community commitments
In May 2026 Hackett described Energy Autopilot as a startup developing home-energy management software. The announcement establishes work in progress, not a completed mass-market rollout or independently measured savings. It continues his interest in helping users control a technically complex service.
The University of Adelaide recognised his technology and community contributions with an honorary degree in 2024. Its citation also describes the Hackett Foundation, formed with his wife Anna, and support for WOMADelaide and aeromedical services. That recognition is distinct from his earned science qualification, and philanthropy does not cancel the commercial risks recorded elsewhere in his career.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Simon Hackett
- Did Hackett single-handedly create Australia’s internet?
- No. The reviewed account places him in collaborative South Australian research-network work before Internode.
- Was the Internode sale completed when it was announced?
- No. It was announced in December 2011; the cited company account and contemporary report place completion in February 2012.
- Was AdelaideFree personally delivered by Hackett in 2014?
- No. It was delivered by Internode under iiNet ownership with public partners. He had already left Internode’s executive team, although he commented on the 2013 procurement.
- Does his university doctorate represent a second earned degree?
- No. The 2024 doctorate is honorary; the BSc completed in 1986 is an earned qualification.
Keep exploring
Lives connected to this story
- David Thodey
Compare telecommunications leadership, infrastructure policy and the different responsibilities of executive and board roles.
- Anthony Pratt
Compare the financing and operational demands of physical manufacturing with a technology investor’s move into batteries.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. Simon HackettAbout: selected education, AARNet, Internode, board and family-office chronology
A first-person career chronology, cross-checked against company and university records; no birth date, birthplace or citizenship inferred.
- 2. InternodeOur history: selected early networking, carrier and broadband milestones
- 3. Internode / iiNet28 May 2012: announced executive transition and completed sale chronology
The dated announcement distinguishes transaction completion from the proposed executive-to-board transition. Later public association is not treated as continuing ownership.
- 4. Andrew Sadauskas / SmartCompany1 February 2012: independent report of the completed Internode acquisition
- 5. University of Adelaide2024 honorary-degree citation: selected indexed recognition and philanthropy passages
Selected indexed citation passages were available; the direct URL now redirects. The separate Council record corroborates the 2024 honorary award.
- 6. University of Adelaide21 October 2024 Council News: Chancellor’s report of honorary-degree ceremonies
- 7. David Orr / Deloitte, ASX announcement via MarketIndex15 November 2024: creditor resolution and liquidator appointment
- 8. James Purtill / ABC News5 December 2024: manufacturing problems, customers’ accounts and Hackett’s response
The investigation includes Hackett’s response and customer accounts. No complete administrator’s report or personal judicial finding is claimed.
- 9. Simon HackettSelected 18 May 2026 Energy Autopilot and 5 April 2025 battery-replacement posts
- 10. InDaily7 August 2013: procurement, funding, coverage gaps and Hackett’s proposed usage limits
- 11. Internode25 June 2014: AdelaideFree launch, access-point composition and company-reported use
- 12. Public.Resource.Org / FlickrSimon Hackett, photo 2252920414: exact original, identity, current CC BY 2.0 grant and metadata
Exact publishing-licensor grant and full original checked. Upload and digitisation metadata do not establish the historical photograph’s capture date or photographer.
- 13. Creative CommonsAttribution 2.0 Generic
