News & Analysis

Labor’s new energy policy will offer discounts on electric vehicles and ‘community batteries’ to store solar power

- March 31, 2021 2 MIN READ

Anthony Albanese will promise a Labor government would deliver a discount to cut the cost of electric cars and install community batteries, in modest initiatives costing $400 million over several years. The announcement, to be made Wednesday, comes as Labor debates its platform at a “virtual” national conference involving some 400 participants. At present only… Read more »

News & Analysis

Facebook likes Australian media again after striking a deal with the Morrison government

- February 23, 2021 3 MIN READ

Facebook’s hostage standoff with Australian government and media will end in the next few days after the company struck a deal with the Morrison government over its controversial News Media Bargaining Code. Intense negotiations with the government in the wake of Facebook blocking hundreds of media sites on its platform last Thursday, saw the warring… Read more »

News & Analysis

Labor leader Anthony Albanese is pushing for more protections for gig economy workers

- February 10, 2021 3 MIN READ

Anthony Albanese will risk a backlash from employers when he releases an industrial relations policy promising a Labor government would substantially increase the legal rights and protections for Australians in insecure work. Wednesday’s policy unveiling will ensure industrial relations is a major political battleground in coming months, with the opposition already declaring it will vote… Read more »

News & Analysis

US accelerates EV revolution as the Morrison government rules out incentives for Australians

- February 8, 2021 4 MIN READ

The Morrison government on Friday released a plan to reduce carbon emissions from Australia’s road transport sector. Controversially, it ruled out consumer incentives to encourage electric vehicle uptake. The disappointing document is not the electric vehicle jump-start the country sorely needs. In contrast, the United States has recently gone all-in on electric vehicles. Like leaders… Read more »

News & Analysis

Facebook and Google’s howls over media bargaining laws reveal how little political clout the tech giants have in Australia

- February 3, 2021 4 MIN READ

Over the past few weeks, Google and Facebook have engaged in desperate attempts to avoid regulation under the Australian government’s proposed mandatory news media bargaining code. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg even appealed to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher personally last week, hoping to shift the government’s hard stance. Both platforms’ strategies… Read more »

News & Analysis

Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee says the government’s news media bargaining code could break the internet, but there is a fix

- January 22, 2021 4 MIN READ

The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, has raised concerns that Australia’s proposed News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code could fundamentally break the internet as we know it. His concerns are valid. However, they could be addressed through minor changes to the proposed code. How could the code break the web?… Read more »

News & Analysis

Why taxing electric vehicles is an important next step in government policy

- November 30, 2020 4 MIN READ

The South Australian and Victorian governments have announced, and New South Wales is considering, road user charges on electric vehicles. This policy has drawn scorn from environmental advocates and motor vehicle lobbyists who fear it will slow the uptake of less-polluting vehicles. But, from a longer-term transport policy perspective, a distance-based road user charge on… Read more »

News & Analysis

One of the internet’s inventors backs Google in its fight over paying Australian media for news

- November 26, 2020 2 MIN READ

US tech pioneer Vint Cerf, the man dubbed “father of the internet” for his work co-designing TCP/IP protocols, has backed his employer, Google, in its fight against the Australian government’s plans to make tech giants Google and Facebook pay media companies for using their content. Cerf, who has worked for Google as a vice president and… Read more »

News & Analysis

Victoria’s budget has $186 million for startups, including $10m for angel investment in female founders

- November 24, 2020 4 MIN READ

Female startup founders in Victoria will have access to $10 million in angel investment under a new fund announced in the state budget today. Treasurer Tim Pallas allocated $10 million towards the Women Founders Angel Sidecar Fund while hoping it will unlock a further $30 million in private sector equity. The funds are part of… Read more »

News & Analysis

The Australian video game industry’s push for a 30% tax offset just landed another powerful ally

- November 19, 2020 3 MIN READ

Video game production is worth around $250 billion annually, but Australia’s slice of that pie is tiny – just $114 million.  It’s so paltry New Zealand’s games industry generates more revenue, while the UK and Canadian game development industries are 10 times bigger than Australia’s. The local sector believes it can easily become a $1… Read more »

News & Analysis

The NSW government is shouting you lunch as it cuts payroll tax for business and flags stamp duty changes

- November 17, 2020 3 MIN READ

The NSW budget is shouting the state a $250 million lunch, even as the 2021 financial year will post an historic  $16 billion deficit as Treasurer Dominic Perrottet grapples with the impact of Covid-19 on Australia’s most populous state. The FY20 deficit was $6.9 billion. It will take until 2025 before the NSW budget is back… Read more »

News & Analysis

After winning the US Presidential election Joe Biden now has to fight the one thing Americans agree on: the nation’s deep division

- November 8, 2020 4 MIN READ

A timeless tradition in political journalism is trying to find a narrative that explains an electoral outcome. A widely accepted narrative to explain Barack Obama’s win over John McCain in 2008 was that Americans wanted to embrace the “change” candidate who appeared the most dissimilar to then-President George W Bush. The narrative four years later… Read more »

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