Joseph Brookes

Jobseekers are being asked to adjust their reporting to employment service providers to avoid a government tech glitch or risk losing their payments, shifting more burden onto vulnerable people. Advocates say the current tech glitch is the latest in a series that have forced jobseekers to jump through even more administrative hoops and that any automated payments suspensions would "repeat the failures of robodebt". The department in charge says it is taking its own steps to ensure payments aren’t wrongly cut off but declined to explain the underlying cause or how many people are impacted.

Tech services giants Accenture and Deloitte are running the Bureau of Meteorology’s new forecasting technology, leveraging their original deals to build the platforms into $27 million of running costs over the next three years. Bureau of Meteorology officials on Friday told the Senate its main technology suppliers had to be paid more than anticipated on the build when the agency underestimated the complexity of its biggest ever tech uplift and supercomputer build. Contracts amended just before the project, known as Robust, ended also added nearly $27 million in running costs, further complicating what has been a contested final price tag.

Australia’s largest bank and a medical centre have signed on to test Canberra’s verifiable credentials project, which is promising to harden the nation against cyber attacks and scams by draining the data honeypot. While still at a proof-of-concept stage, the Services Australia TEx project announced in August could also leave a mark for outgoing government services minister Bill Shorten. It has already coopted all the major banks, telecommunications companies, Google, Apple, seek and private identity providers, while briefings are being provided to the Opposition to build bipartisan consensus in a project that would take years to deliver.

Tech giants like Meta and X face a European-style duty of care to proactively protect Australian users under an Albanese government plan that could be legislated by the end of the year. Communications minister Michelle Rowland on Wednesday night revealed the government will accept the key recommendation from a forthcoming review of Australia’s online safety laws and legislate a ‘Digital Duty of Care’. If passed, the legal requirement long sought by platform critics and safety advocates would shift the onus onto online service providers to keep millions of Australians safe by continuously assessing and mitigating risks.

Sydney’s state-backed space accelerator has begun accepting Defence and aerospace companies as demand for dual use technologies grows and some of its early graduates take off ahead of a government decision on the hub’s future. Dozens of startups and a handful of spinouts from the National Space Industry Hub run by Cicada Innovations are now landing funding, cracking commercial markets and generating jobs. Graduates include SpaceTechs Spiral Blue and Deneb -- both part of the recent Waratah Seed mission, and Blackbird backed energy startup Aquilla.

Deceptive deepfake videos and voice clones will be banned during elections and referendums under Albanese government truth in political advertising laws introduced on Monday to try stem the flow of misinformation. But the new bans won’t be in force for the next federal election, with only a mandatory disclosure that material was substantially modified by digital technology potentially expected to be in force by then. The government and opposition teamed to vote down an attempt to have the generational electoral reforms examined by a committee, despite the key changes not coming into effect until 2026.

Bureaucratic and technical jargon obscured critical risks to Defence’s troubled clearance system from top brass and ministers, while contractors were able to influence the direction of outsourced work. That’s according to deputy auditor general Rona Mellor, who has followed her scathing audit of the heavily delayed and descoped myClearance system with a government wide warning. She said the procurement and contract management failings aren’t uncommon in Canberra and agencies need to be mindful of contractors influencing work and how crucial information is moving “up the food chain”.

Queensland’s sovereign wealth fund on Tuesday hopped into a $125 million climate technology venture capital fund, boosting the funding available to local startups while expanding its global climate mandate. The Queensland Investment Corporation contribution is undisclosed but InnovationAus understands it is around $10 million. The move bolsters the country’s largest climate tech venture outfit Virescent Ventures, which already has the backing of Australia’s green bank and Westpac, and plans to pump up to $200 million into local startups over 10 years.

The head of Australia’s $15 billion manufacturing fund says a pipeline of innovation investments will follow its debut equity deal for a Queensland mining equipment maker, and that its capital will go where private investors won’t. But details of the landmark deal into an established company with no shortage of other suiters are being kept under wraps, and the agency responsible is facing early criticism about its pace and target. National Reconstruction Fund Corporation chair Martijn Wilder on Tuesday said the fund’s $40 million investment in Russell Mineral Equipment, a maker of high end mining gear, is allowing “innovation that the company has built to grow”.

New research reveals serious privacy flaws in the data practices of new internet connected cars in Australia. It’s yet another reason why we need urgent reform of privacy laws. Modern cars are increasingly equipped with internet-enabled features. Your “connected car” might automatically detect an accident and call emergency services, or send a notification if a child is left in the back seat. But connected cars are also sophisticated surveillance devices. The data they collect can create a highly revealing picture of each driver. If this data is misused, it can result in privacy and security threats.