Google announced today its withdrawal from negotiations with the NSW government around basing its new headquarters at the planned White Bay tech precinct.
NSW’s Hunter region is well on its way to become one of Australia’s largest digital innovation hubs thanks to the launch of a new initiative, the Hunter Innovation Project. The project has received a total of $17.8 million in funding to help transform the hunter region into a digital innovation precinct.
The NSW Government is calling for the state’s fintech and cyber security startups to apply for a new intensive accelerator program to take place at the new Australian landing pad in Tel Aviv later this year.
After much to-ing and fro-ing over the past few months, the NSW Government has ruled that as of tonight, UberX will be legal in the state. The decision comes along with the introduction of new reforms aimed at creating a “modern point to point transport industry”, with the appointment of a new transport commissioner to come. As expected, the taxi industry will be compensated, with the state’s 5,800 perpetual taxi plate holders to receive $20,000 per plate for a maximum of two plates or $40,000.
A few months after the ACT announced it would be regulating Uber as part of a set of wider transport reforms, the NSW Government is set to do the same. Sydney’s Daily Telegraph has reported that, under new regulations, Uber drivers will be required to pay a licence fee to drive for the service, while taxi drivers will be compensated for the increased competition in the industry.
The Victorian Government is putting its money where its mouth is: just a few weeks after announcing $1 million in funding and five years of additional in-kind marketing support to get SydStart to move to Melbourne and rebrand to StartCon, the government has announced that it has made a significant investment to help customer service software startup Zendesk open a new Melbourne office.
Government support of the local startup ecosystem is showing no signs of slowing down, with NSW Premier Mike Baird this week announcing plans to create a dedicated tech hub in Sydney, dubbed ‘Silicon Harbour’.
Less than a month out from the state election, NSW Premier Mike Baird this week unveiled a new fintech startup space which is set to open in the heart of the Sydney CBD in May.
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