News

Former spy chief Nick Warner joins PsiQuantum board

Former spy chief Nick Warner has been appointed as a non-executive director of PsiQuantum, the tech startup that will stage its attempts to build the world’s first utility-scale, fault-tolerant...

A sovereign capability moonshot: Tackling the ‘missing middle’

Science and Technology Australia has called on government to establish a $2.5 billion Sovereign Capability Moonshot Program that would support research, translation and industrial transformation in areas identified as...

AUKUS innovators secure $8m in contracts

The winners of the inaugural AUKUS Innovation Challenge, Canberra firms Advanced Design Technology and Penten, have inked contracts worth $8 million to develop electronic warfare technology for Defence. The...

Services Aus seeks new faces for $1m advisory board

A recruitment process is underway to replace the highly-paid outside advisers that former Government Services minister Bill Shorten had running the ruler over his agency’s services and myGov app....

On copyright, OpenAI is the pot calling the kettle black

Until a few weeks ago, few people in the Western world had heard of a small Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company known as DeepSeek. But on January 20, it...

CSIRO joins $726m Navy electronic warfare uplift

Australia’s national science agency will help modernise the Royal Australian Navy’s electronic warfare capabilities under an initial $21 million contract, joining the multi-decade program currently led by multinational defence...

Ombudsman investigates jobseeker system after tech stresses

The Commonwealth Ombudsman is investigating the cancellation of income support payments after advocates warned technology glitches and slowdowns had exposed a broken system and that some cancellations were unlawful....

Applications open for next Industry PhD program round

The Education department has opened applications to PhD candidates and businesses for the fifth round of the National Industry PhD program, seeking ideas for turning research into new products...

DeepSeek banned from Australian government devices

Chinese artificial intelligence chatbot DeepSeek has been banned from Australian government-issued systems and devices after it was found to pose an “unacceptable level of security risk” . Home Affairs...

Local space sector welcomes new regulatory changes

Australia’s space sector regulations have been overhauled for the second time in two years, with the federal government moving to cut down on red tape and speed up launch...

Meeting the Big Tech influence machine head on

The regulation of global technologies has emerged over the past decade as a key social and economic challenge for governments around the world. The challenges are obvious and daunting....

Feds back study into WA rare earths processing facility

A critical minerals processing facility slated for Perth has progressed to the next stage, with the Western Australian and federal governments committing $3 million to an initial feasibility study....