News

Buy Now Pay Later to be regulated as credit

“Loopholes” that allowed Australia’s $18 billion Buy Now Pay Later sector to explode with little regulation will be closed under an Albanese government plan to treat companies like Afterpay...

Govt looks to reuse NDIS Salesforce platform

The Digital Transformation Agency is exploring opportunities to reuse the National Disability Insurance Scheme’s new Salesforce CRM system elsewhere in government despite an ongoing investigation into the original procurement....

Mazzucato’s mission for Australian innovation

Persistent Australian innovation problems like stagnant R&D and low economic complexity would be turned around with more ambitious and strategic “growth” policy, according to influential economist Mariana Mazzucato. Professor...

DTA adds IP flexibility to Digital Marketplace contracts

Startups and SMEs will soon be able to negotiate with federal government agencies on who owns the intellectual property developed under contracts won through the Digital Marketplace. The change,...

Automated decisioning sweeps across NSW govt

Hundreds of automated decision-making systems have been found in the first mapping of the technologies across the NSW public sector, with most being developed without a specific regulatory framework....

Govt consults on criminalising doxxing

Attorney General Mark Dreyfus on Sunday launched a two-and-a-half week consultation on privacy law reforms to address doxxing, after hundreds of Jewish Australians’ details were published online. The Albanese...

NSW govt dissolved chief data scientist role

The New South Wales government permanently “retired” the role of chief data scientist late last year, prompting Professor Ian Oppermann, the architect of the state’s AI Assurance Framework, to...

David Thodey is Sydney University’s new chancellor

Australian business leader David Thodey has been elected the new Chancellor at the University of Sydney, succeeding Belinda Hutchinson, who is stepping down after nearly 12 years in the...

Space treaty stoush opens up over sovereign controls

What was supposed to have been a no-brainer treaty between the US and Australia promising to boost the local space industry – the Technology Safeguards Agreement – has instead...

Mission Economy: Rethinking the role of the state

During a packed event a year ago hosted by Britain’s How To Academy, the celebrated economist Mariana Mazzucato, who is in Australia from March 11-14 on a speaking tour,...

Nicholas Opie and the future of Australian deep tech

With a world-class university system, pioneering medical researchers and growing tech manufacturing capabilities, Australia is well primed to become a deep tech powerhouse. But long-standing commercialisation shortcomings are holding...

Gig Guide: Ex-STA president lands at Adelaide University

Former Science and Technology Australia president Mark Hutchinson is the new interim director of the University of Adelaide Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS). Mr Hutchinson, who left the...

Moonshot: An industrial reboot for the Australian economy

Influential economist Mariana Mazzucato will urge Australia’s leaders to implement “mission” policy that catalyses public-private partnerships to solve existential challenges like the climate crisis when she arrives in Australia...