News

‘Ill-informed’ R&D tax changes hit biotech

The federal government’s “ill-informed” reforms to the research and development tax incentive will damage Australia’s burgeoning life sciences sector at a time when it is at the forefront of...

FinTech screen scraping scrap heats up

The landmark Parliamentary inquiry into the FinTech sector has again descended into a feud over the controversial practice of screen scraping, much to the chagrin of FinTech Australia. Screen...

Stay calm, the NBN won’t implode

I’ve recently received an abundance of memes questioning whether the NBN might fold, as the impact of COVID-19 leads more Australians to access the internet from home. I enjoy...

Renwick review won’t reject encryption laws

The independent national security monitor won’t call on government to repeal its highly controversial encryption laws but will likely recommend a series of tweaks, as a number of inquiries...

CLOUD Act data sharing deal concerns

There are calls for the federal government to put on hold its plans to secure a data-sharing deal with the US during the coronavirus pandemic so proper scrutiny can...

Opportunities open for female founders

The government has opened its four-year $18 million Boosting Female Founders Initiative to first-round applicants with the aim give support to the women with startups with support to grow...

Innovation slides down, down Downunder

A couple of Prime Ministers ago the word ‘innovation’ was pushed into the public consciousness with the launch of the National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA). With a lot...

Telco’s brace for network usage surge

Federal Labor wants NBN retail service providers to be offered temporary additional capacity at low-cost if the network slows as a result of congestion as large numbers of employees...

DTA seeks new myGov platform provider

The DTA is on the hunt for an organisation to help design a revamped myGov platform, building on a $1 million prototype made by Deloitte. The Digital Transformation Agency...

Retrospective RDTI changes ‘simply unfair’

A government plan to apply its highly contentious changes to the R&D tax incentive retrospectively is “simply unfair” and “opportunistic” and will damage early-stage companies, a Senate committee has...

Oppermann charts new ACS course

Newly elected Australian Computer Society president Ian Oppermann has stepped away from his full-time role is chief data officer at the NSW Customer Service Department so he can devote...

An Aussie voice in AI standards

The federal government needs to do more to ensure Australia’s voice is heard in the global setting of standards for artificial intelligence, a new report has found. Standards Australia’s...

Tech exodus looms due to RDTI changes

The government’s controversial changes to the research and development tax incentive would cut the benefit nearly in half for a number of local tech companies, leading some to consider...

COVID-19 smartphone app rollout

The federal government will provide funding for subsidised telehealth sessions and a new smartphone app providing information on the coronavirus as part of a $2.4 billion package. As part...