News

AMA raises alarm over data sharing plan

The Australian Medical Association has sounded the alarm over the federal government’s flagship new data-sharing scheme, warning there are no minimum privacy protections and that private health information could...

If you want a patent, it helps to be human

Earlier this year IP Australia rejected a patent application from Dabus. The problem: Dabus is not human, it is artificial artificial intelligence software that had come up with something...

Dealing with govt as a nation of SMEs

Greg Whiteley is a small manufacturing business owner and has had many a reason to navigate the interface with the Commonwealth Public service. Here he looks at the compliance...

On fairness, algorithms and the law

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair,” chanted the witches in Macbeth, meaning that appearances can be deceptive: things can differ from how they appear. And our idea of...

Floodgates open for consultants in pandemic year

Multinational management consulting firms have enjoyed an extraordinarily good year in Canberra. Federal government spending on advice and services from the global outfits soared by hundreds of millions of...

BCG and McKinsey govt contracts double in 2020

The dollar value in government contracts awarded to Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey doubled in 2020, with both large US management consultant firms enjoying a sharp increase in federal...

Deloitte’s federal work jumps 35% in pandemic

The value of consulting giant Deloitte’s contracts with the Digital Transformation Agency increased by more than 1,000 percent in 2020 over the previous year, with the company’s overall government...

Let’s formalise a ‘Made in Australia’ Office

Australian companies might be concerned about an increasingly protectionist United States and the spectre of a newly issued Made in America presidential executive order, but the Australian Government is...

eSignatures are at risk as law update stalls

Australia’s corporate sector faces uncertainty and increased risk this week after the federal government failed to pass amendments that would confirm companies’ right to hold virtual-only meetings and to...

Push for second vaccine maker too late?

Pharmaceutical manufacturer IDT Australia is undertaking a feasibility study to assess the possibility of supplementing production of the COVID-19 vaccine in Australia. IDT will assess the possibility of using...

Why the rush? Online Safety Bill still not passed

The Online Safety Bill will not be passed by Parliament until May at the earliest, despite the rushed process behind the federal government’s controversial legislation. The Online Safety Bill,...

A cyber-savvy nation through reskilling

So great is the shortage of cybersecurity skills in Australia that organisations have no hope of recruiting the people they need and must instead resort to casting a wider...

Govt fails to meet own cyber standards: ANAO

None of the government entities recently examined by an Australian National Audit Office review have fully implemented the mandatory cyber security risk mitigation strategies developed eight years ago to...

Gig Guide: McGowan’s new innovation chief

The newly re-elected Premier of Western Australia Mark McGowan has appointed the member for Bunbury Don Punch as the state’s new Minister for Innovation and ICT. Mr Punch, the...