Displaying items by tag: James Riley

The Federal Government's Digital Transformation Agency is one unit in Canberra that really earns its name. It transforms itself completely within as short a period as 18 months, gaining an entirely new workforce.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has drawn a line under a tender process to select the media organisation to run the Australia Network - a ten-year, $230 million contract - terminating the tender on the advice of the Australian Government Solicitor.

After eight months of industry consultation, public hearings and issue paper discussions, the Convergence Review Committee says it will issue a draft report before the end of the year, and seek more feedback before publishing the definitive document.

Tiny Aussie start-up Scalify will run a commercial trial of its multi-player game technology developed at NICTA with giant UK-based Moshi Monsters - a kiddies virual environment and online game with more than 50 million users worldwide.

The video games industry's peak lobby has welcomed Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor's release of proposed classification guidelines for computer games that includes the introduction of an R18+ 'adult' classification.

The Federal Government is considering a plan to extend a special 457 visa program designed for the resources sector to the telecommunications industry, to allow it to expedite the import of large numbers of skilled workers.

The Huffington Post is this morning calling the Google 'do a barrel roll' stunt the coolest thing the search and fancy-pants behemoth has ever done. And it sure is cool!

The Gillard Government has re-jigged its 457 visa program, with the Immigration Department speeding up processing times for employers seeking to bring in foriegn workers and doubling to six years the duration of the long-stay visa.

The Australian Government is now duty bound to assist WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to ensure he gets a fair trial on rape allegations in Sweden, according to his advising counsel and international human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson.

The federal Opposition has voted with Labor in the Senate to defeat a Greens motion that sought to force Government to intervene in legal proceedings against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, to ensure he is not subject to extradition to the US.

A national database of suspected arsonists launched this week by Attorney-General Robert McClelland was heavy-handed and had been created without the most basic consultation with civil liberties groups, the nation's peak privacy lobby claims.

NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley has told a senate committee the national broadband network roll-out would make use of locally-produced product to the "maximum extent," dismissing analysis that Australian firms and Australian staff were being by-passed.

If Victoria was not given enough priority in the early stages of National Broadband Network construction, it was because of state government inaction in the tech sector, shadow technology minister Adem Somyurek says.

The chairman of the joint parliamentary oversight committee on the NBN Rob Oakeshott says workforce-related issues arising from the $11 billion Telstra-NBN Company deal might add to the cost of the national broadband network roll-out.

The NBN Company expects to make its purchasing decision for two satellites for the national broadband network within the next "couple of months" before turning its attention to finding a supplier for its earth-based satellite services.

The powerful joint parliamentary committee overseeing the roll-out of the national broadband network will scutinise the $11billion deal between Telstra and the NBN Company, looking at questions of risk and value for money.

The NBN Company is likely to withdraw a request for a "price shock mechanism" - which would allow it to increase prices for its wholesale services by up to five per cent above inflation - as being of little value, NBN Co chief executive Mike Quigley has told a senate committee.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has rejected as "spurious" accusations that the just-announced NBN Company 12-month construction plan was an exercise in political pork barrelling.

As the NBN Company today released plans to roll-out its fibre network to nearly 500,000 homes in the next 12 months, the Australian Greens say Opposition leader Tony Abbott must now drop the Coalition plan to "demolish" the NBN if it is elected.

The National eHealth Transition Authority has issued its first calls for proposals from medical software providers wanting to build the Federal Government's new electronic health record standards into their products.