News

Expensive reliance on outside advice

The government’s use of external consultants to design Services Australia is “deeply concerning” and risks the new department having an “expensive, debilitating dependency” on outsourcing, according to the deputy...

Employee share scheme withers

The government is yet to reveal how it would proceed with proposed changes to Employee Share Schemes, nearly nine months after they were first revealed. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced...

Mike Burgess gets ASIO call-up

Less than two years ago, Mike Burgess was the chief information security officer within Australia’s largest telecommunications carrier Telstra. From the middle of next month he will become the...

Govt’s digital ID is in trouble

The government needs to conduct a full-scale review to get its digital identity project back under control in the wake of spiralling costs, delays and a lack of transparency,...

The marketplace needs a boost

The federal government’s Digital Marketplace should be celebrated for the role it has played in driving new digital workforce skills into the public sector. But it has failed in...

Global Talent visa made permanent

A trial visa program helping Australian tech companies attract skilled overseas workers has been made permanent by the federal government following a 12-month pilot. The Global Talent-Employer Sponsored (GTES)...

SA gov’t drops Blue Sky VC

The South Australian government has dropped Blue Sky as the manager of its $50 million tech fund, as the company now shows “no interest” in venture capital. It comes...

WA moves to build data laws

Western Australia is set to finally introduce privacy legislation to govern the protection and sharing of personal data, with plans to establish a Privacy Commissioner and Chief Data Officer....

Gov’t ID review finally delivered

A long-overdue review into identity security has finally been handed to government, just as the Coalition recommits to its controversial facial recognition legislation. The Department of Home Affairs launched...

ServicesAus win for McKinsey, KPMG

The government has called in the big consultanty firms McKinsey and KPMG to help design its new Services Australia department, with the companies sharing in nearly $1 million for...

AIIA closes its Canberra office

The Australian Information Industry Association, the 40-year-old vendor-led peak body representing the tech sector, has quietly shuttered its Canberra office, losing two of its most senior executives in the...

Labor trusts gov’t on CDR regime

The Consumer Data Right laws are “very complex and messy” and plans to amend them later in the year may lead to further problems, digital rights advocates have said....

Birmingham on the bright side

Australian trade authorities continued to press for more diversified trade with China that included a focus on new technology, regardless of the complexities of the relationship in high-tech goods...

Tony Sheldon to target big tech

New Labor Senator Tony Sheldon has thrown down the gauntlet to both major parties to catch up and better regulate the “unaccountable tech titans”, calling for the introduction of...