Displaying items by tag: budget

MEGA UPDATED: More than FIFTY top IT companies in Australia have provided IT industry commentary on Australia’s 2021 Federal Budget, focusing on the digital economy, cyber security, business and more.

The Victorian Government will spend $626 million on a Digital Future Now initiative to improve mobile coverage and broadband access in regional areas and supporting businesses by creating new jobs in the process.

Until yesterday, I was wondering why the Prime Minister Scott Morrison, a honest Christian man who goes to church every Sunday, was not letting fly at the men who had tried to reclaim money from the poor and starving in this country and ended up with a bill of $1.2 billion in legal fees.

The IT industry in Australia is strong, and despite the economic downturn that COVID-19 has unleashed upon the world, IT is the glue that has kept a lot of businesses in business, defeating cybercriminals, keeping us connected and so much more, so what did local IT industry leaders say about Australia's 2020-21 Budget?

The commentary from various elements of the tech industry on Budget night has been positive, which is great news for the digital economy, digital funding, reversing planned R&D changes, 5G and more.

A lot of people really disliked the Federal Government's plan to cut an estimated $1.8 billion from the R&D Tax Incentive program, and the need to positively respond to the crisis and build the economy and jobs has seen the decision reversed.

Australia’s peak industry representative body for innovation technology, the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), has welcomed the Federal Government’s Budget as an important milestone to "achieve a globally competitive and leading digital economy".

The Australian Government’s reissuing of 188C Business Innovation and Investment visas and allocation of interim places to high net worth migrants prior to the Budget will assist Australian businesses and entrepreneurs to counter the lack of availability of domestic capital investment, according to one advisory firm.

The UK has introduced a 2% digital services tax on the revenues that certain digital businesses earn from 1 April, in its 2020 budget which was presented to Parliament on Wednesday. Also announced was an increase of £22 billion in public sector research and development spending.

The head of Australia's national start-up advocacy group has described Tuesday's Federal Budget as a "missed opportunity" to provide strategic vision on the role that technology will play in Australia's economy.

Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand has called on the Australian Government to better communicate to Australian businesses the benefits of online services about to be implemented nationally.

Ok, so we don't have a screen above 6-inches, while the processor isn't the most powerful, but Kogan has launched the latest model in its ultra-affordable Android smartphone and for the price, it's impressive!

Selling for as little as $99 at Harvey Norman, and normally priced at $149, the Nokia 1 is a feature phone masquerading as a smart phone, but if that's all you need, it "works".

The head of one of Australia’s regional universities says the Coalition Government’s Federal Budget allocation of $96 million for regional universities is a tremendous “first down payment” in establishing a new regional deal to benefit all regional Australians.

The Australian Computer Society has welcomed government measures in the Federal Budget to boost Australia’s science and technology capacity, but says more investment is required to prepare Australians for a positive digital future.

Accounting software group Reckon says federal government measures in the Budget to crack down on the black economy help to level the playing field for small businesses.

Memory and storage maker Crucial is proffering profitable advice on lowering software licence costs by making better use of your hardware, upgraded if needed, for long-term savings.

StartupAUS, Australia's peak advocacy group for start-ups, says start-ups have “dropped off the radar” in the budget and the government has a lot to do to deliver on commitments to make Australia one of the best countries in the world for innovators.

The Australian Computer Society says the budget falls short in providing sufficient funds to address the ICT skills gap and wants the federal government to allocate more funding to overcome the problem.

King of the affordably priced technology domain, Kogan, has cunningly unleashed its first "high end" Android-powered phone at a budget price – time to upgrade?