Business

A software engineer fired after refusing to return to the office 3 days a week lost his unfair dismissal claim

- January 23, 2026 3 MIN READ

A Melbourne-based software engineer has lost an unfair dismissal case after he was fired for refusing to return to the office. Richard Johnson worked as a product engineer at print management software provider PaperCut Software from April 2022 until mid-June 2025, when he was fired for refusing to comply with a three days per week… Read more »

Cyber security

How a Brit landed an Australian innovation visa after hacking the government’s foreign affairs website

- January 9, 2026 3 MIN READ

A British cybersecurity expert has landed a coveted tech visa for exceptional talent after he hacked an Australian government department and exposed a “critical vulnerability”. Jacob Riggs, a British national with more than a decade of experience in the cyber sector, was granted an 858 National Innovation visa in December, less than a year after… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

NSW gives the nod to a $3 billion CDC data centre in Western Sydney

- December 4, 2025 3 MIN READ

The largest data centre in the southern hemisphere will be built in New South Wales after local provider CDC Data Centres’s proposal received approval. The NSW government last week approved the plan for a $3.1 billion hyperscale data centre at Marsden Park, about 36km north-west of the Sydney CBD. First announced in October last year,… Read more »

Business

Founder mode = worker mad: Sydney startup boss cops LinkedIn hammering for praising San Francisco’s late night hustle culture

- November 19, 2025 3 MIN READ

A Sydney startup founder’s post about “fully adopting” a Silicon Valley-style work culture has sparked a debate about long hours in tech and whether work-life balance clashes with ambition. After arriving in San Francisco two weeks ago, Lyra co-founder and COO Anh Dao posted that he had experienced a “wake-up call” on work culture, and… Read more »

Canberra
AI/Machine Learning

OpenAI just won a 2nd Australian government contract after being the only company invited to bid

- October 23, 2025 3 MIN READ

OpenAI is steadily embedding itself in the Australian government, with the US tech giant winning its second contract without any competition as the public sector is encouraged to embrace public generative AI tools. The Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) last week issued new guidance recommending agencies and departments be encouraged to use public generative AI tools… Read more »

Business

Company used laptops as ‘listening devices’ – now the employees are claiming unfair dismissal

- August 28, 2025 3 MIN READ

An Australian compliance training company has been accused of turning the laptops of its workers into listening devices to surveil them while they worked from home. Online compliance training provider Safetrac deployed employee monitoring software earlier this year that recorded the audio and screens of some of its workers, which picked up online team meetings… Read more »

Life hacks

Yeah but nah: Gen Z is getting a reputation for ghosting employers that’s now costing them jobs

- July 10, 2025 3 MIN READ

Younger job seekers are getting a reputation for ghosting workplaces even after they have landed a job, leading some employers to overlook Gen Z candidates entirely, a new report has found. Previous research has found Australian job hunters are increasingly being ghosted by recruiters and companies during the application process. But a survey conducted by Resume.org found… Read more »

Sydney
Global tech

StartupBlink’s latest global rankings sees Sydney rise to 31 as Australia slows overall

- May 30, 2025 3 MIN READ

Sydney’s startup ecosystem has enjoyed a rapid rise in the last year and is near the top 30 cities in the world, but Australia has continued its decline overall, according to a new report. StartupBlink’s Global Startup Ecosystem Index Report 2025 ranks the startup ecosystems of more than 1,400 cities and 100 countries, using hundreds of thousands… Read more »

AI/Machine Learning

Tech companies are now busy rehiring as the promise of AI doesn’t live up to the hype

- May 27, 2025 3 MIN READ

A number of large tech firms are backtracking after going all-in on AI and rehiring staff that were let go to save money. The recent rise of generative artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT led to many tech firms adopting an AI-first approach and either implementing hiring freezes or cutting staff and replacing them with… Read more »

AI bot
AI/Machine Learning

Scared AI will steal your job? Here’s a little hope

- May 14, 2025 3 MIN READ

Artificial intelligence has the potential to “reignite” stalling human development around the world, with global optimism around its potential to create employment and opportunities overriding fears of job losses, according to a new UN report. The UN Development Programme’s 2025 Human Development Report found that in the last year there was the smallest increase in… Read more »

Funding

The Coalition and Peter Dutton flag ending Labor’s $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund

- April 16, 2025 3 MIN READ

Australia’s peak science and tech body has warned the Coalition’s plans to shut down Labor’s $15 billion manufacturing fund would put a handbrake on the nation’s innovation efforts. Citing Coalition sources, the AFR reported last week that if the Coalition wins the upcoming May election it plans to redirect all remaining capital allocated to the National… Read more »

Canberra
Funding

The controversial $940m government deal to back US quantum computer maker PsiQuantum is under review for ‘lessons’

- January 29, 2025 3 MIN READ

An independent review is underway into “lessons learned” from the process enabling a $940 million deal for US firm PsiQuantum to attempt to build the world’s first utility-scale quantum computer in Brisbane, as well as how potential conflicts of interest were managed, newly tabled documents reveal. The documents, released to the Senate late last year,… Read more »

Dean Freestone
Business

The cofounder of Seer Medical is fighting investor Breakthrough Victoria in court, claiming he was unfairly dismissed from the startup

- December 20, 2024 3 MIN READ

The Victorian government’s controversial $2 billion venture fund has been embroiled in an unfair dismissal case launched by the cofounder of one of its portfolio companies. Seer Medical founder Dr Dean Freestone launched Federal Court action against the company he helped launch and Breakthrough Victoria earlier this year, alleging he was forced out of the… Read more »