News

Productivity pressures ahead for NSW

New South Wales will need a more skilled workforce, a “rethink” of service delivery and a host of microeconomic reforms to keep its economy humming, according to a forecast...

‘Release the hounds’ on ransomware gangs

Labor has called on the federal government to get on the cyber offensive and “release the hounds” on global ransomware gangs following a series of high profile cyber-attacks against...

Growth Centres are on their own from 2022

The federal government has all but confirmed that the six Industry Growth Centres will be on their own and receive no government funding after June 2022, at which time...

Indigenous boost through Women in STEM grants

Eight organisations have shared in nearly $2 million in federal funding as part of the federal government’s Women in STEM and entrepreneurship program, including three initiatives encouraging young indigenous...

Open for entry: InnovationAus Awards 2021

Entries are now open for all 11 categories of the InnovationAus 2021 Awards for Excellence, the premium six-month program aimed at identifying and rewarding Australia’s best and brightest individuals...

CSIRO boss explains why seL4 team was dumped

CSIRO chief executive Dr Larry Marshall has explained why the agency sensationally dumped the team behind the seL4 microkernel, saying he did not believe it was feasible to spin...

Labor skewers industry portfolio’s ‘revolving door’

Labor has questioned whether the government is taking the industry department seriously amid a “revolving door” of ministers and machinery of government changes. At a Senate Estimates hearing on...

NDIS ‘robo-plans’ test algorithmic transparency

The federal government’s plan to determine the size of NDIS support packages for over 400,000 participants by fitting them into 400 ‘profiles’ will be a test of algorithmic transparency,...

McKinsey gets another $2m for mRNA vaccine help

The federal government has awarded McKinsey another $2 million contract to assist with its efforts to establish an onshore mRNA vaccine manufacturing capability, after the consulting giant developed a...

HRC warns govt on technology accessibility

The Australian Government must reform discrimination laws, amend its procurement rules and commit to standards to make technology more accessible to people with a disability, the Australian Human Rights...

Encryption laws puts billions at risk: Report

Australia’s highly controversial ‘encryption busting’ laws pose a significant economic threat to local and multinational businesses, some of which have estimated the hit to be in the billions of...

Digital ID for age verification gets the nod

The federal government has agreed in principle to use its digital identity scheme to verify the age of individuals before they access online pornography or gambling, but no action...

Big questions around govt’s patent box: Husic

The government’s new patent box scheme risks being a “knee-jerk reaction to embrace a new concept” that provides a tax break to big firms and little benefit to the...

COVIDSafe hasn’t found any contacts this year

The federal government’s COVIDSafe contact tracing app has not found any new contacts this year and has still identified just 17 people in total, with the agency behind it...