News

China’s Xi cranks innovation engine

In a week in which our Prime Minister has been spruiking the resources sector and the promise of great returns for investment in Australian infrastructure, China’s President Xi Jinping...

China: Our best tech friend in Asia

The health of the relationship with China is fundamental to the health of the Australian economy. This overwhelming consensus view is not just related to Australia’s resources sector and...

Budget Notes: Buckets of blood

Listening to the shrieks and squeals of tech sector commentators over the past few weeks, you’d be forgiven for thinking Joe Hockey’s first budget contained nothing for the industry....

SIV approvals start to flow

The log-jam choking the approvals process of the Significant Investor Visa program has started to clear. But whether any of this money finds its way into innovative Australian companies...

Tough week at the CSIRO

It was a tough week for science in Australia last week as it was revealed staff numbers at the nation’s flagship science agency – the CSIRO – are under...

Prof Terry Speed, Australian hero

There were a ton a science prizes handed out in Australia this week. So in the interests of acknowledging the superb calibre of our science community – and these...

Rupert Murdoch is surprisingly right

Rupert Murdoch is a funny bugger. Just when you think that age has wearied him, and that his keen eye for the Big Picture had finally been overcome by...

Brandis shuts door on Huawei

The Attorney-General’s confirmation of the Australian Government’s ban on any involvement by Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei in the construction of the National Broadband Network is fascinating and perplexing. It...

Tapping offshore startup talent

There is a large potential pool of entrepreneurial talent within the international student community that gets overlooked in this country because they don’t work rights. And that is a...

888 visa scheme gets a re-boot

The biggest potential policy game changer for the Australian start-up sector is about to get a reboot. In a landmark speech on Monday, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said Australia’s...

Telstra’s gentle startup strategy

The 800 pound gorilla of the Australian technology sector – Telstra – has gently lifted the covers from its shiny new startup accelerator program, tiptoeing carefully into the market...

Labor’s tech leadership team

Labor leader Bill Shorten has produced a mixed bag of the old and the new in his shadow cabinet; some good, some less than good. In the many and...

Labor puts Comms on backburner

With the ascension of Bill Shorten to the most thankless job in Australian politics and the naming of the new shadow ministry, the shape of Labor in opposition has...

The tech sector missing in action

The Deloitte ’Positioning for Prosperity’ report released this week makes an obvious and painful point for anyone who has an interest in the Australian tech sector. The report identifies five “super-growth...