Government is increasingly reliant on digital information and communications technologies (ICT) for its core business activities, ‘back-office’ corporate operations, and service delivery to the public and other stakeholders. Government spending on ICT procurement is increasing, but so are reports of ‘tech-wrecks’, procurements and projects that have exceeded their budgets or timeframes, or have failed to meet expectations. It would be useful to have a single source of information where the public and stakeholders could track the progress of major ICT procurements and projects. Read more...
This year is a significant one for the evolution of Indigenous Affairs policy in Australia. It marks the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum, while the government is reviewing its Closing the Gap targets and the mechanisms used to address them. Two of the targets relate to Indigenous employment and economic development. This article considers two case studies where the Indigenous knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people contributed to scientific research and innovation. In one, the approach has empowered the local community, with the potential to significantly improve employment and economic development. In the other, Indigenous communities have had little say... Read more...
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released the 2017 results from their survey of Participation, job search and mobility. This survey data provides information on job seekers and job switchers, as well as people who are not in the labour force; that is, those who are not working, nor looking for work. Within this group of people, there are various reasons as to why people do not need or want a job. The main reasons people are not in the labour force is the focus of this article. Read more...
Fifty years ago this month, Australia entered the space age. On 29 November 1967, we launched our first satellite at Woomera, South Australia. The Weapons Research Establishment Satellite, known as WRESAT, had an orbiting life of 42 days, and circumnavigated the globe 642 times before it ran out of battery. Its purpose was to provide scientific data on upper atmosphere physics. Planned, built and launched in just eleven months, WRESAT was a landmark in Australian science, and an early high point of the Australian space industry. Australia became the seventh nation to send a satellite into orbit and the third nation to both design and launch an orbiting satellite from its own territory. Video... Read more...
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) recently released the 2016–17 Migration Programme report. The Migration Programme is the collective name given to permanent residency visas (with the exception of the humanitarian category). The report provides information on the number and type of visas granted. Unlike previous years, the number of permanent visas granted in 2016–17 is substantially different from the planning figure. Read more...
This year, Australia experienced one of its warmest and driest winters in over a hundred years of recorded weather. The warmth has affected more than just thermometers and weather enthusiasts, with everyone from farmers to electricity suppliers feeling the effects. Read more...
The Parliamentary Library has produced a high-resolution poster-sized map of the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey results by electorate. Read more...
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