News

AFP’s new hacking powers referred to committee

The government will refer legislation handing sweeping hacking powers to the AFP to the Parliamentary intelligence and security committee amid concerns the extraordinary new powers would lead to “poisoned...

‘Grave concern’ over changes to Surveillance Act

The Law Council of Australia has “grave concern” about the government’s plan to remove judicial oversight from the issuing of warrants under a completely new Surveillance Act. In response...

Bank-backed FinTech platform Lygon is now live

Backed by a consortium including ANZ Bank, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, IBM and Scentre Group, Lygon is a new digital platform that uses distributed Ledger technology to transform...

Stiglitz backs Australia’s Big Tech media code

Former World Bank chief economist and Nobel laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz has thrown his support behind Australia’s proposed mandatory news bargaining code for big tech companies, but said the...

Industry joins forces to boost digital literacy

In March this year, with COVID-19 starting to impact the Australian economy, the Federal Minister for Industry, Science, and Technology Karen Andrews convened a virtual roundtable of technology company...

AFP’s ‘expansion of authoritarian powers’

Authorities will be given the ability to take over the online accounts of Australians and hack into networks to change or delete data for alleged crimes that carry jail...

Local tech misses out on federal opportunities

The Digital Transformation Agency has signed its seventh whole-of-government purchasing agreement with a foreign-headquartered tech giant – this time it is with Oracle – with the expressed aim to...

Qld budget a disappointment for local tech

The Queensland state budget has provided few new initiatives focused on technology and innovation and follows the Palaszczuk government’s six-month freeze on new IT projects. The Queensland budget came...

Employee share reform plan a fading memory

The government has still not moved to implement its planned reforms to employee share schemes more than two years after announcing them, as another inquiry into the scheme gathers...

Gilmour Space in ‘final-mile’ delivery partnership

Home-grown rocket startup Gilmour Space Technologies has signed a multi-million dollar partnership with US-based Momentus to jointly offer launch and “orbital transport services” from an Australian site. Momentus is...

No changes to encryption regime this year

There will be no fixes to the government’s highly controversial encryption powers this year with a committee report on the legislation now more than two months delayed. It has...

Export Market Grant reform gets green light

Significant reforms to the popular Export Market Development Grant program have been given the green light by a Senate committee, but further details on the new rules won’t be...

COVIDSafe overhaul fails to stem criticism

The government’s decision to completely overhaul the protocol underpinning COVIDSafe in an effort to improve functionality of the contact tracing app has done little to stem the ongoing calls...

Govt is rushing foreign investment reform: Labor

The government is rushing significant reforms to Australia’s foreign investment framework which have left much of the tech sector confused and concerned, according to the federal opposition. The government-led...