News

Opposition grows to R&D cuts

The Government’s proposed 1.5 per cent cut to its R&D tax rebate has passed the House of Representatives, but hopes remain among the measure’s many opponents that it will...

DTO: Turnbull gets his man

You would have to hope that the newly-appointed chief executive officer of the Commonwealth’s Digital Transformation Office brings his flak jacket with him when he comes to Canberra, because...

In search of tech bipartisanship

Amid all the cries seeking bipartisan policy-making, it is easy to miss the unity ticket unfolding on ‘innovation’. Unfortunately, behind the public agreement there is little of substance, merely...

Tech procurement is a bit of a mess

It is hard to find anyone selling into the Australian Government who has anything good to say about its procurement practices in relation to information technology. Even those on...

ChAFTA: Handle with great care

The title of Taiwanese film director Ang Lee’s Shanghai-set thriller Lust, Caution aptly encapsulates the attitude that many Australian companies and entrepreneurs have, or at least should have, towards...

TiSA threatens data sovereignty

WikiLeaks has published 17 documents on the proposed Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) being negotiated behind closed doors by the US, the European Union and 22 other countries including...

The Premier & the Party Secretary

Every time a senior delegation arrives in Sydney from China’s economic engine room of Guangdong – and they arrive with increasing frequency – Neville Wran’s stature in Australian history...

SIV: A China tech opportunity

Of all the Budget measures aimed at helping the local startup and innovation sector, the low-profile changes to the Significant Investor Visa program hold the promise of the delivering...

The power of the Big Tech lobby

You won’t hear them shouting it from the rooftops, but multinational tech companies were the big winners on Budget night, effectively given a free-pass to shift billions in fast-growing...

Tax shy foreigners hurt local tech

Macquarie Telecom has given full voice to a serious problem facing local technology companies. That is, the gaming of the global tax system by multinational companies puts Australia’s home-grown...

Digital pioneers’ mountain to climb

If you take the view that there are no such thing as a challenge, only opportunities, then it is fair to say that government’s new Digital Transformation Office has...

Turnbull pitches the Big Picture

Malcolm Turnbull’s re-framing of the Coalition economic argument at the Brisbane Club this week was directed at his colleagues as much as to his self-proclaimed constituency at the “sensible...

Secrecy shrouds TPP tech impact

When the Trade Minister’s office leaked details to The Australian last week of sugar being added to the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations, the rest of Australia was understandably nervous. The negotiators...

Australia’s real digital divide

Just like the party-room meeting at Parliament House, there is a very sizeable rump of people within the tech sector who are disappointed that the leadership spill motion was...