Anyone who has heard me speak over the year and a bit since I became the Minister will have heard me talk about scams. And in particular, we believe the Consumer Data Right can be used to make a real, lasting difference. Scammers are causing untold misery across the country. Conservative estimates tell us that… Read more »
Australians will go to the polls on October 14 to vote in a referendum on an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. We have not voted in a federal referendum since 1999. So what do you need to know? How is a referendum run? A referendum is run by the Australian Electoral Commission in the… Read more »
The Albanese government has appointed venture capitalist and philanthropist Airtree cofounder Daniel Petre to the board of its $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund to be chaired by climate investor Martijn Wilder, founder and CEO of Pollination. The eight-member board for the government’s signature investment project also includes Invest Victoria chair Ahmed Fahour, MD of Latitude… Read more »
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) paid out more than half a billion dollars to cyber criminals between July 2021 and February 2023, according to an ABC report. Most of the payments were for small amounts (less than A$5,000) and were not flagged by the ATO’s own monitoring systems. The fraudsters exploited a weakness in the… Read more »
Atlassian cofounders and co-CEOs Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar have backed the Australian Indigenous Voice referendum, saying it will “move us closer to meaningful reconciliation” and a more equitable nation. In a note to staff late last week, the pair said that “empowering First Nations communities is something we’ve always believed in and backed in… Read more »
Buoyed by dramatic changes in the way consumers pay for goods and services, Australia’s payments processing ecosystem will be overhauled based on a new strategic plan that includes the phasing out of cheques and full transition to the New Payments Platform (NPP). The newly launched Strategic Plan for Australia’s Payments System – developed through consultation with regulators,… Read more »
Tech giants will be forced to scan Australians’ emails, online photo libraries, cloud storage accounts and dating sites for illegal content or face fines of nearly $700,000 per day, the eSafety Commissioner has said after rejecting two proposed industry codes as inadequate. Developed by key service providers and delivered to eSafety in February for review, the problematic… Read more »
The federal government is seeking feedback on mitigating any potential risks from the use of artificial intelligence technologies (AI) and how to build a safe framework for its use amid growing global concerns that seeing machine learning as potentially an existential threat to humanity. Science and industry minister Ed Husic released two discussion papers on… Read more »
Australia’s tech sector grew by 8% over the past year and despite a wave of high profile redundancies, added more than 10,000 jobs in the first quarter of 2023. The nation’s tech workforce increased by 70,000 jobs to 935,000 by February 2023, according to new research from the Tech Council of Australia (TCA). That growth… Read more »
Australia’s roll out of open banking under the consumer data right (CDR) is stalling ahead of the third anniversary of its introduction, with industry lobby groups and the fintech sector calling on the federal government to put in place a long sought-after roadmap for CDR implementation. FinTech Australia and the Financial Data and Technology Association… Read more »
The government is moving to regulate buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services under the Credit Act and force companies like AfterPay, to follow a set of responsible lending obligations. Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones on Monday that he wanted to maintain innovation and competition in the market but stop the “harmful effects of poor marketing practices and poor… Read more »
A National Anti-Scams Centre will be up and running by July under a $58 million federal budget commitment. Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones revealed details of the new centre on Monday, saying it will sit within the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and act as a central place to report scams and share information with… Read more »
Labor’s second budget in 7 months focused on cost-of-living pressures, with modest concessions for the business sector in an equally tough economic environment. The $392 million Industry Growth Program (a revamped version of the former government’s Entrepreneurs’ Program and Accelerating Commercialisation grant program, with increased funding), was the headline act. The program will support SMEs… Read more »
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has delivered his second budget with a heavy focus on cost-of-living relief for Australians who are struggling due to persistently high inflation and rising interest rates. While Chalmers says the economy should continue to create jobs and unemployment is expected to remain historically low, inflation remains the top economic concern. Chalmers says… Read more »
The 2023 federal budget has earmarked $392 million Industry Growth Program in advice and grants for startups and small businesses, to help them commercialise their ideas. The announcement by federal treasurer Jim Chalmers in the 2023 budget on Tuesday night is part of more than $500 million in funding that science and industry minister Ed Husic… Read more »
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