News

Senate demands release of welfare tech probe

The Senate has ordered Employment minister Amanda Rishworth hand over a review of backend technology at her department after a series of bugs and administration failures raised serious doubts...

$180m Sovereign Industry Development Fund opens in Qld

Defence, biofuels and biomedical industries are set for a major boost in Queensland, with the state government opening applications for its new $180.6 million Sovereign Industry Development Fund. The...

Govt launches public sector AI tool amid productivity push

A new platform that gives federal public servants a secure way to experiment with artificial intelligence models like OpenAI’s GPT-4o has launched, as the government looks to boost adoption...

My Health Record infrastructure goes to market

The agency behind My Health Record has gone to market to start carving up the decades-long $780 million Accenture contract underpinning the national data system, but is sticking with...

Home Affairs, Federal Police pulled under security watch

The first piece of legislation introduced by new Attorney General Michelle Rowland on Wednesday will place the entire national intelligence community under the oversight of the security watchdog and...

Historic Australian rocket crashes shortly after take off

Gilmour Space Technologies launched its maiden rocket from northern Queensland on Wednesday morning, but it crashed shortly after the historic take-off. The locally designed and manufactured rocket took off...

Australia adds YouTube to social media ban for under-16s

YouTube will be included in Australia’s world-first ban on social media for teenagers, the federal government announced on Wednesday, reversing an earlier decision to exempt the platform. Australia’s eSafety...

Welfare compliance tech plagued by defects

Government IT systems that incorrectly penalised welfare recipients remain at breaking point and will continue to malfunction, the Employment department was warned earlier this year by independent reviewers. Documents...

Universities secure $62m for research, training hubs

Universities in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia have secured $62.4 million in federal funding for 13 new research hubs and training centres focused on strategic national priorities, including...

Multi-agent AI ratcheting up adoption and risk

Organisations deploying multi-AI agent systems risk running into new and complex failure modes multi-agent systems, a new report from the Gradient Institute has warned. Backed by the Department of...

Unions to seek workplace AI protections from Chalmers

Australia’s largest workers’ group has launched a push to tighten artificial intelligence regulations, including requiring employers to guarantee job security and retraining opportunities. The Australian Council of Trade Unions...