OPINION: Caught out by its strategy to bet on COVID-19 vaccines that could be made in Australia, the federal government is now scrambling to manufacture mRNA vaccines locally. Its “approach to market” strategy has effectively asked companies how much government money they need to do so. But even with subsidies, this plan will take years….
Funding for the $730 million Next Generation Technologies Fund and $800 million Defence Innovation Hub will go under the microscope in a wide-ranging review of Defence’s innovation, science and technology led by former Rio Tinto Australia managing director David Peever. Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price said the review announced on Monday would help ensure Defence…
Former Australian diplomat Johanna Weaver will lead a new Australian National University centre focused on addressing some of the biggest challenges we face with the increasing integration of digital technology in daily lives. The new Tech Policy Design Centre announced on Monday will be led by Ms Weaver, a former lawyer and Australian diplomat who…
The Australian Defence Force has revealed that its M2 cube satellite has successfully separated into two after its launch earlier this year. The M2 mission — part of a $10 million joint space program between the Royal Australian Air Force and UNSW Canberra — has been orbiting the globe as one since its March launch…
Australian researchers have developed a new system to transport data in a way that is extremely energy-efficient and that could potentially help power next-generation computers and smartphones that consume less electricity than current devices. The new system, which transports data using atomically-thin semiconductors, has shown highly promising signs of requiring less electricity to run by not giving off any heat, meaning no…
The last two years have seen an increase in how much Australians appreciate manufacturing, according to new research released on Friday by the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre. Comparing the views of a similarly-sized group of respondents in 2019 versus this year, the group’s Perceptions of Australian Manufacturing report found 72 per cent of Australians viewed…
An Australian team has reached the grand final of a global challenge run by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to test autonomous robotic technology to map, navigate and search environments. Known as the Subterranean Challenge, teams have been eliminated from competition in previous years, leaving only eight to contest the 2021 grand final….
Additive manufacturing technology group SPEE3D has announced a breakthrough process enabling it to offer for the first time 3D printed stainless-steel parts and components. With funding support from energy and resources sector industry growth centre National Energy Resources Australia (NERA), SPEE3D can now print corrosion resistant, stainless-steel components on site and in remote locations, including…
Facebook and Ray-Ban unveiled a new line of smart glasses on Friday that will be available in Australia and enable wearers to capture photos and video and listen to music or take phone calls. Starting at $A449, the glasses are not the augmented reality future Facebook has been talking up that will eventually allow consumers…
OPINION: There has been a significant focus on “digital first” initiatives across government. But while many of these transformational programs have targeted website upgrades and new portals to drive self-service, there has been little focus on content creation and workflows. This is a significant area of challenge for public sector agencies that are required to…
OPINION: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a boom for tech companies, even in Australia, as working from home, isolation and lockdowns have driven increased digitalisation. Given that — and the prospect of vaccine passports — it’s timely to consider why the federal government struggles with digital technology. The struggle’s not just a recent phenomenon—indeed,…
Technology behemoth Microsoft has announced that it is expanding into South Australia, bringing its Azure Space team to Adelaide’s Lot Fourteen space precinct. As part of the expansion, Microsoft and Nokia also announced on Thursday that the two companies have partnered with the South Australian Government to “innovate with space technology and 5G telecommunications to…
A Brisbane-based online video-editing platform backed by prominent investor Steve Baxter and dubbed “Canva for video” has been acquired by tech giant Microsoft for an undisclosed amount. Founded in 2013 by former SAP employees Alexander Dreiling, David Hewitt, Soeren Balko, and Tobias Raub, Clipchamp was created for non-creatives to put together videos that look professional,…
The NSW government will early next year commence a trial of a digital “education passport” that will act as a verifiable record of a student’s qualifications. First flagged in October last year, the government has since been consulting with students on what it might look like, as well as with school leavers, employers, businesses and…
Australia’s privacy watchdog says police access to COVID-19 check-in app histories has the potential to “undermine” contact tracing efforts and should be prohibited. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), in which Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk sits, was responding to recent evidence of multiple requests by law enforcement officials across Australia attempting to access…
Opinion: More than half of the Australian population is currently in lockdown due to COVID-19 and are rolling up their sleeves and getting their second COVID-19 vaccination. As a result, they are hoping for greater freedom through their government-endorsed vaccination certificate available through the myGov portal. And therein lies a significant problem – not with…
Australia’s eSafety commissioner says technology giant Apple can expect government regulation if it continues to pause the roll out of controversial technology that would have scanned iCloud photo libraries for child sexual abuse material and shielded children from explicit content on their iPhones. Julie Inman Grant, who commenced her five-year appointment as Australia’s eSafety commissioner…
State and territory COVID-19 check-in apps will be granted access to federal government data showing whether citizens have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, with the functionality expected to go live this month.
Once states begin to open up after lockdowns, it’s expected some types of venues will require patrons to provide proof of vaccination in addition to checking in via a QR code, on top of requiring ID if they’re an establishment like a nightclub.
With this in mind, federal and state governments have been discussing whether there is a way to integrate data from the Australian Immunisation Register into state-based check-in apps to make it easier for citizens to check in without having to open separate apps.
Minister Robert’s office referred InnovationAus to comments he made at a doorstop interview on Tuesday last week in Canberra, in which he said he had been working with state and territory colleagues “for many, many weeks” on sharing the data.
“The intent of working with them is to allow an ease for Australians, so when they use that state-based app, not only can they use the state-based QR code in terms of the state processes, but can also demonstrate at the same time, that they’ve been vaccinated,” Minister Robert said.
“That process will be ongoing, and I suspect at this stage, that this will be live across states and territories into September.”
Minister Robert said how states and territories use the data “will be up to them”.
“Whether that vaccination certification data is used will depend of course, upon state and territory public health orders, and that’s a matter for those states and territories.”
On Friday, NSW Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello said on LinkedIn that he planned to show a prototype of the integration on Monday.
“I am working with Minister Stuart Robert … so that we can provide people with an option of integrating the vaccine certificate on their Service NSW app,” he said.
Minister Dominello has previously lobbied for access to the data, telling InnovationAus that it would be “a very clunky experience to essentially open three different apps just to get through the front door” of some venues.
He said previously that such a record in the Service NSW app could detail whether someone was fully or partially vaccinated against COVID-19.
Meanwhile, NSW announced this week that it would begin to scale down the use of contact tracing as vaccination rates rise, and would rely more on its Service NSW app for alerting people if they have been to a venue of concern. New features, as flagged by Mr Dominello, will be introduced into the app to allow for this to occur in late September.
Australia’s federal and state privacy commissioners have released guidance for developing tools that protect public health and enable increased mobility as Australia embarks on a pathway out of COVID-19.
The guidance comes after Queensland Police were in June found using the state’s COVID-19 check-in app data as part of an investigation into the reported theft of an officer’s gun and Taser from a regional pub. The state’s police later directed officers to not access such data “except in extraordinary circumstances”.
Once states and territories reach a certain percentage of their population being vaccinated and begin to open up, premiers have indicated that COVID-19 vaccination certificates will likely become a requirement for entry to certain venues like pubs and clubs. Similar documentation is likely to be required for overseas travel.
Federal Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk.
It is with this in mind that Australia’s privacy commissioners on Thursday released the National COVID-19 Privacy Principles – a set of universal privacy principles which they say provide flexibility for government and business in developing tools that protect public health and enable increased mobility.
The principles, which are similar in nature to draft guidelines that were issued in response to technology solutions for contact tracing, seek to minimise personal information collected, limit its use, ensure it is kept secure, deleted when no longer needed, and protected by law.
Examples where the Privacy Commissioner’s office considers the principles should apply include the development of vaccination certificates and whether, for example, it is sufficient for them to be sighted instead of collected and stored when they are used in public.
If collection is necessary, the Privacy Commissioner’s office believes technological solutions should ensure only the minimum amount of information is collected and that it is held securely and periodically deleted.
“We’ve learned that the community will provide their personal information to help prevent and manage COVID-19, but they want it to be respected and protected,” federal Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk said.
“As the next of wave of solutions are developed, we need to keep privacy front and centre. We want to maintain the community’s trust in the use of their personal information, so we need to ensure any new proposals and solutions are built around fundamental privacy principles.”
Commissioner Falk said the commissioners know that privacy is a concern for many Australians and that they need to know their information will continue to be protected within measures that support the health and economic response – whether it’s contact tracing and QR codes, vaccination certificates, or a future proposal with privacy impacts.
“The principles provide an important reminder to build privacy protections into any initiatives that require the collection of personal information from the start,” she said.
“A nationally consistent approach to any personal information handling requirements in health orders will also reduce regulatory friction and provide certainty for the community and for businesses as we move to the next stage of the pandemic response. Australian privacy regulators will continue to work together on privacy issues with national implications to provide consistent advice and guidance.”
The Privacy Commissioner’s office also believes that if someone claims an exemption from a public health order requirement to wear a mask, only the minimum amount of information should be required to be collected to establish the exemption – for example, a certificate that a medical exemption is in place for that individual, without the details of the particular illness, condition or disability being required.
United Australia Party MP Craig Kelly’s ‘spam’ text messages to thousands of people across the nation highlight the need for reform to privacy, spam and electoral laws, experts say.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) told InnovationAus it had received 3,420 complaints over the past several days about the controversial MP’s messages, which state “You can never trust the Liberals, Labor or Greens again” with a link directing them to the UAP website.
The messages prompted news website Crikey to publish Mr Kelly’s mobile number and invite readers to spam him back, and follow similar mass blasts by the Labor Party during 2016’s election, dubbed the “Mediscare” texts, and the Australian Marriage Equality campaign’s “Yes” messages in 2017.
Craig Kelly MP and the text he sent to Australians.
Mr Kelly toldThe Sydney Morning Herald he had not purchased a list of phone numbers, but rather had sent the messages using software that generated phone numbers at random – the same method used by the Australian Marriage Equality campaign in 2017.
Privacy and security experts say the messages show the need for reform of the privacy and spam acts, which both provide exemptions for registered political parties. The ACMA said bulk political communications are also governed by the Commonwealth Electoral Act, which is regulated by the Australian Electoral Commission, showing the complexity of the multiple laws they cross.
Privacy expert Anna Johnstone of Salinger Privacy said the exemption in the Privacy Act for political parties had existed ever since the Privacy Act was extended to cover private sector organisations, which was 21 years ago in the year 2000.
The political party exemption had been inserted as a “self-serving exemption”, Ms Johnstone said.
“Other privacy laws around the world do not exempt political parties and there’s no real reason why political parties shouldn’t be held to the same standards as any other organisation,” she said.
“I guess the more egregious behaviour is what draws attention to the fact that they have an exemption.”
CyberCX national privacy lead David Batch said the exemption didn’t have a lot of support from the community or regulators since it was first drafted.
“If a corporation was doing [what Craig Kelly is doing], it would be considered spam,” he said.
“It’s probably time to have a conversation about it. This particular issue has really brought it to a head because I think it’s a bit of an abuse of that exemption to wholesale spam people.
“The exemption wasn’t ever drafted with this kind of technology in mind.”
At a minimum, Mr Batch said there should be guidelines around what political parties can and can’t do, “and this type of SMS campaign, which is just this untargeted spray, is one of those things that I think shouldn’t be allowed”.
On October 30, the Attorney-General’s Department put out an issues paper which included the question: “Should political acts and practices continue to be exempted…”.
Responses were published in December, with NSW, Queensland, Victoria and the federal privacy bodies stating that the exemption should be scrapped or reformed in some form.
The federal Office of the Australian Information Commissioner recommended the exemption be removed “subject to an appropriate transition period to aid with awareness of, and preparation for compliance with, the Privacy Act”.
“The OAIC has opposed the political parties exemption since its introduction, on the grounds that there are still few well-articulated policy reasons why the exemption should apply to political parties and political acts and practices, at least in its blanket form,” the OAIC said in its submission.
“There is also a risk that the exemption’s effect on political transparency may damage Australia’s system of representative democracy, as well as the public’s trust in Australia’s privacy protections.”
The federal privacy regulator referred to its 2020 Australian community attitudes to privacy survey, which showed that 62 per cent of the Australian public incorrectly believed that political parties were covered by the Privacy Act, with 74 per cent of respondents stating that political parties should be subject to the Act.
“These results indicate that there is also a disconnect with community expectations in this area,” the OAIC said.
Queensland’s Information Commissioner Rachael Rangihaeata and Privacy Commissioner Phil Green formed a similar view.
“Political parties have access to vast amounts of personal information contained in electoral databases, including contacts individual voters have with parliamentarians and electorate offices,” their submission said.
“In the context of compulsory voting and increasing concerns about risks posed by manipulation of private information by social media platforms to target and sway the political views of voters, it is OIC’s view that retention of this exemption is no longer fit for purpose and should be removed.”
Victoria’s Information Commissioner Sven Bluemmel said removing the exemption “would increase transparency and accountability in political parties’ information handling practices and would enhance trust in the democratic process”.
“The Privacy Act would also be more closely aligned with comparable international jurisdictions such as New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong,” he said.
Meanwhile, NSW Privacy Commissioner Samantha Gavel said that the privacy exemption for political parties was “now out of step with privacy regimes in other similar jurisdictions”.
“I also support consideration of whether these exemptions should be removed or narrowed in scope, in order to provide greater privacy protection to citizens,” Ms Gavel said in her submission
The next step for privacy reform is for the Attorney-General’s Department to release a discussion paper and then draft legislation, although a federal election may come before that.
Electricity provider Ausgrid says a drone with a 3D-printed “hook” was recently used to untangle 800 metres of twisted powerlines in a remote and inaccessible part of the electricity network in Sydney’s north.
The twisted wires were caused by strong winds and discovered during a routine tower inspection in a large valley between Davidson and St Ives, and Ausgrid claimed the process of using a drone to untangle the wires was a “world first”.
A drone untangles wires in Sydney’s north using a 3D-printed “hook”.
The company partnered with drone technology company Infravision, whose clients also include other electricity providers PNG Power, TransGrid and Evoenergy.
“While the tangled wires weren’t immediately affecting power supply, the friction between the two wires would have eventually severed them, potentially cutting power to 70,000 customers,” Kelly Wood, Ausgrid’s executive general manager of network delivery services, said.
“Replacing broken lines in such an inaccessible area would be a major job, so we were hopeful Infravision could come up with a solution to untangle the wires.”
Paul Crawford, Infravision’s director of operations, said the team worked out a method to utilise a heavy-lift drone with a specially designed hook and release mechanism to lift and untangle the wires.
“Our engineering team designed several 3D-printed ‘hook’ attachment prototypes, and after extensive testing a final version was decided on for this project,” Mr Crawford said.
“The hook, tether and release mechanism had to be able to withstand extreme loads, be non-conductive, and designed in a manner to minimise the risk of any further entanglement and prevent any further damage to the cable during the operation.
“It was also designed to allow the wire to easily slide into the hook, making it easier for the drone pilot to engage and reposition the wire.”
As the drone was working with high voltage lines, Infravision needed to design an automatic release mechanism to detach the hook in an emergency, allowing it to roll off the wire and prevent it from being caught on the line.
The use of drone technology meant Ausgrid personnel and the community were exposed to “significantly less risk”, the company said, as there were no individuals working at height and no low-flying helicopters used.
“After an initial test flight to view the wires, the drone with the hook was deployed and performed several lifts, untangling the wire in 40–60 metre sections at a time until the lines were completely untangled,” Ms Wood said.
“I believe the success of this joint operation will be a gamechanger for Ausgrid and other companies which are moving towards an increased use of drone technology to improve the safety and efficiency of business operations in the future.”
Victoria’s Stonnington City Council is the latest Australian organisation to fall prey to a cyber incident, forcing systems offline and some staff to take annual leave while the issue is resolved.
Services taken offline following the incident include payments and the council’s ePlanning portal, with an “international agent” suspected of being involved.
City of Stonnington council in Victoria.
In a statement, the council said it had experienced “an IT issue on 27 August”.
“Some systems have been disabled while the issue is being investigated and resolved,” the council said. “Essential services delivered by council remain operational.”
CEO Jacqui Weatherill said the council’s technology team was working to keep the community connected to the council and “keep our data safe” while it resolves the issue.
“Our priority is to ensure our customer’s data is kept secure, our workforce can be as productive as possible, and our customers remain connected,” Ms Weatherill said.
“Essential services remain operational and, if any residents do require assistance, Council staff are available via our customer service number.
“We ask our customers to remain patient, understanding and supportive as we resolve this issue.”
In a subsequent interview with 7 News, Ms Weatherill said that “an international agent has come and infiltrated our systems”. A council spokesperson confirmed this to InnovationAus, but said that systems weren’t shut down as a result of the attack but rather as a proactive measure to investigate what was found over the weekend during routine maintenance.
Asked if it was ransomware, the spokesperson said it was unclear and that council was conducting “a complete investigation” to find out.
The council was working with the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet and other state and federal agencies to resolve the issue, as well as with its cyber insurance partner.
Stonnington is in Melbourne’s south-east and includes the suburbs of Armadale, Glen Iris, Kooyong, Malvern, Malvern East, Prahran, South Yarra, Toorak and Windsor.
The council joins a slew of Australian organisations subjected to cyber attacks in recent months, including South Australian welfare agency Uniting Communities, NSW Health, and Nine Entertainment Company, broadcaster of Channel Nine and publisher of The Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Financial Review and The Age.
Professor Reg Coutts, one of six expert panellists who helped envisage the original National Broadband Network (NBN), has passed away.
Professor Coutts passed away peacefully in hospital in Adelaide from liver cancer on Sunday night, the Telecommunications Association (TelSoc), of which Professor Coutts was vice chairman, said on Monday.
Professor Reg Coutts.
In 2008, Professor Coutts was appointed by then-communications minister Stephen Conroy as one of six members of a panel of experts to assess proposals to build the NBN and to advise the government on the awarding of a $4.7 billion contract to part-fund its construction.
The panel eventually rejected all proposals put forward and submitted its report and a letter to the government in January 2009, which found “that none of the national proposals offered value for money”.
The letter provided the framework for Labor’s $43 billion NBN policy announced in April 2009 which has now been realised, albeit under a Coalition government and in a very different form.
Professor Coutts, who has been involved in the telecommunications sector for almost 40 years, was Professor of telecommunications at the University of Adelaide from 1993 to 2003.
He also ran his own consultancy firm Coutts Communications, held technical positions at Telstra, and worked for the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
He was also particularly outspoken in defending the advice he provided as part of the NBN expert panel.
“Reg had a great life and was a truly amazing person, a wonderful father for Paul & Louise and my soul mate for 42 years,” his wife Pam wrote in a message which has been distributed to family, friends and colleagues, according to Adelaide’s Power FM. “I will miss him hugely, as will Louise.”
Professor Coutts had a go at federal politics as the Labor candidate for the seat of Mayo in the 2018 federal by-election. He was also chairman of TelSoc from its inception in 2013 until last year and was previously chairman of the Telecommunications Society of Australia for a number of years.
Paul Budde, another telecommunications consultant, remembered his “dear friend and colleague”.
“Since Covid we had regular telephone discussions about our ‘beloved’ NBN,” Mr Budde said in a LinkedIn post. “Always working on ideas on how to get the current government to accept a better plan to get fibre deeper into the network.
“The last time we discussed this was only a month ago. I knew Reg was ill but he was always positive and full of fun (and mischief). My deepest sympathy to Pam and his family. I will always remember Reg as a great friend and colleague. He will be greatly missed.”
The day before he passed away, Professor Coutts wrote a letter to his friends, distributed by Myrana Wahlqvist, secretary of the Mayo FEC.
“Unfortunately, my health has taken a turn. After eighteen months of feeling quite good, my cancer has suddenly spread to my liver,” his note read, Power FM reported.
“The doctors have done all they can do and I wanted to say my goodbyes. I have really enjoyed getting to know you all in our efforts to advance a better society and body politic through Labor. Thanks also for your support in my campaign. Keep powering on.”
Ms Wahlqvist said Professor Coutts “was a marvellous and inimitable character” and that there would “never be another like him”.
Opinion: The verdict is in: if you’ve been a victim of a ransomware attack, you will almost certainly be required to report the breach to the Privacy Commissioner and the people likely affected.
In what is the clearest guidance industry has been given on notification obligations in the event of a ransomware attack, this news came with the release of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s January-June 2021 Notifiable Data Breach Report.
The Privacy Commissioner recently said ransomware’s rise was concerning. Credit: Shutterstock/Andrey_Popov
In this report, the OAIC states:
“It is insufficient for an entity to rely on the absence of evidence of access to or exfiltration of data to conclusively determine that an eligible data breach has not occurred.”
This statement seems to be plain commonsense when you consider the factors at play in a ransomware or data theft extortion incident: the depth and breadth of personal information held by most organisations in Australia in the digital age; the majority of ransomware attacks affect the majority of data held by a victim organisation; and, this type of breach is perpetrated by criminals seeking to do harm for profit. In these circumstances it would be exceptional to be able to demonstrate how such a breach would be unlikely to lead to a serious risk to individuals.
Although it may seem obvious at face value, clearly the OAIC has found the need to expressly state this fact and remove any doubt as to a loophole existing for organisations to avoid reporting to the regulator when they’ve been hit by ransomware.
To date, organisations may have been relying on a lack of evidence of exfiltration to justify not reporting a ransomware breach to the Privacy Commissioner and affected individuals. In such circumstances, organisations are most likely failing to understand that the threshold tests for determining whether a breach is reportable is based on ‘the more likely than not’ test – or to use a legal term, “on the balance of probabilities”.
So, if your organisation is the custodian of information that is likely to cause serious harm to individuals when it is likely to be in the possession of criminals, then your default starting position should be to report the breach – and typically you’ll have a hard time arguing otherwise.
We saw a strong suggestion that the regulator may have taken this position in relation to ransomware with the publication of the recent findings in the Determination against Uber.
While that incident occurred before the mandatory data breach notification scheme was in place, it was nonetheless made clear by the regulator that paying a ransom (even if disguised as a “bug bounty”) and getting written assurances from a threat actor that stolen data has been destroyed would not be enough to avoid notification obligations.
The regulator’s views on this matter again seem relentlessly commonsense: those that perpetrate ransomware, or who have criminal intent, are not to be trusted. And where such persons have accessed, or may have possession of, personal information that could be used to perpetrate serious harm, this serious harm is likely.
So, the question becomes: why would an organisation not want to report? The short answer is: fear.
Fear of litigation, fear of reputational damage, fear of regulatory action. This, coupled with instincts for self-preservation of key leaders and internal stakeholders often come into play in decision making around whether to report to the regulator.
This fear factor is completely understandable. However, by choosing not to report, organisations are playing a major gamble that only exacerbates all those risks, should the full nature of the breach ever become known, or worse, the cybercriminal publishes your data.
The realised risk for many organisations who report is in fact quite different. Swift action, transparency and a demonstrated commitment to reduce risk to individuals is far more likely to reduce your risk in the long term. The most severe regulatory action has invariably been in relation to those who sought to cover up a breach, or who were tardy in notifying. Remember: your data could turn up on the dark web at any time or, commonly, a whistle-blower may decide to clear their conscience.
The reality is that it is in no one’s interest – including the regulator – to punish those that move quickly, are transparent and genuinely act to protect those who may be affected by a breach. In fact, research by McKinsey and Company shows that reacting quickly to a data breach is the second greatest way to maintain trust when handling others’ personal information.
So, if you find yourself in the unfortunate position of being a victim of a ransomware attack, quick, transparent notification to the OAIC and individuals, and meaningful action to minimise harm to those affected, is your best bet to ensure you’ve met your regulatory obligations. As a bonus, you’ll also be meeting the expectations of your employees, your customers and the general public.
The Australian Space Agency should be made a permanent statutory authority and be given funding that is more in line with comparable countries like Canada, the head of Australia’s space industry association says.
NASA’s budget for the 2021 financial year is $US23.3 billion ($A31.89b), while Canada’s is $CA403.6 million ($A437m). Meanwhile, the Australian Space Agency’s budget has varied between $5.7m and $13.7m since 2018, with a total of $41 million allocated over the past four years excluding industry grant programs.
Space Industry Association of Australia CEO James Brown.
An additional $13.3m was allocated to the agency over the next four years in May’s budget, equating to just $3.3m per year.
While the chief executive of the Space Industry Association of Australia James Brown isn’t seeking the agency to have its funds boosted to the likes of NASA’s, he points out that Australia could do better given its space budget is ranked 18th amongst the G20 nations.
“The midterm question for the agency is making them permanent,” Mr Brown tells InnovationAus. “Their funding expires fairly soon. They’re not a permanent agency. They’re part of the Department of Industry, which has effectively been running a three-year pilot program to see whether we need one.
“The verdict is in, so we’re talking to the government and the opposition about making the space agency a statutory agency with its own sort of independent staff and a permanent budget.”
He points out that at present, the agency could fairly easily be shut down at any point in time.
“If a minister or the Department of Industry decided to reorganise [and] close down the space agency they could,” he said. “Once you have a statutory agency, that can only be done by legislation.”
Industry Minister Christian Porter told InnovationAus the government was “consistently open to hearing contributions from the space industry on how to further grow the sector, noting in particular the increasing economic and strategic importance of space in to the future”.
“I am in constant engagement with my department and heads of all agencies to ensure funding is fit for purpose,” he said.
Mr Brown would also like to see Australia have a national civilian space program, where the industry is given the opportunity to provide to government satellites in the 100-300 kilogram range that could assist with activities such as bushfire detection, drought and farm monitoring, and provide position, navigation and timing capabilities.
“What we would want to see is the agency properly staffed and funded,” he said. “And then, secondly, is that commitment to a national civilian space program. So at the moment, we’ve got all this money pouring into Defence space, which is fantastic. But on the civilian space side, we don’t actually have any sort of long-term plan.
“And for space technology, you need five to 10 years with the planning and funding because the stuff you’re doing is really hard and complicated.”
A national civilian space program was needed because federal and state governments could no longer take for granted other countries’ civilian capabilities, he said, especially in times of crisis where Australia might need a satellite tasked for bushfires while Japan or the US might need to prioritise a hurricane or flood.
“There are some overseas satellites that we rely on for some really critical data for agriculture, data that is critical to a lot of land management, a lot of decisions … that we get completely for free,” he said. “And those countries in their Parliament’s or in their agencies have said, ‘Well hang on, why do we give this to Australia for free?’.
“It’s also a pressure point that people could put on us as well. They could cut off access to satellites in the worst case.”
The lack of a Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) with the US was also causing some friction among the industry, he said. Such an agreement would make it easier for Australians and Americans to work on space projects in each others’ countries, but also allow companies that want to work on projects together to do so and allow them to build satellites in Australia and put them on US rockets or vice versa.
“If you work at SpaceX, for example, and you’re doing rocket technology and propulsion technology and you move to Australia, as one of our members recently did, you can’t then work on that stuff in Australia,” Mr Brown said. “You’re prohibited by law from doing that.”
“So that’s kind of really important at the moment,” he said. “The most recent one was done with the UK and I think that’s the model that we’d want to see being used in Australia’s case.
“The New Zealand one for example is quite specific and narrow and quite restrictive, [whereas] the UK one is much broader and sort of gives us more room for UK companies to move, so I think we want to see something that looks more like that.”
He understood that Australia was “in the thrashing out the details phase”, but that it was taking some time because it was “quite a complicated” agreement.
“It impacts on 37 different pieces of Australian legislation and it’s a treaty, so it kind of needs to go through a whole bunch of processes.”
Longer term, Mr Brown said he was encouraging the government to think about what a plan to procure satellites over the next 10 years might look like “as opposed to a program of well-intentioned but ultimately adhoc grants, which is what we have at the moment”.
He said signs were encouraging and that there had been “one important change that’s happened in the last 12 months” in conversations with government.
“When I first started in this job, I used to hear from government … that [space] is going to be private-led, this is going to be private investment, [and that] government will just kind of be hands-off and help [the industry] grow. That’s just not going to work. It doesn’t work in space anywhere in the world.
“We’ve seen the message on that change from government now, from the Prime Minister down. We’re hearing, ‘OK, we get it, government needs to play a big role both as a client, but also in terms of pointing the way.”
While Industry Minister Porter didn’t give any hints on whether space agency funding would be boosted, he pointed to the $150 million Moon to Mars initiative and the government’s $1.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy, which also includes space as one of six national manufacturing priority areas, as initiatives the government was undertaking to assist the sector.
“The work of the Australian Space Agency complements significant investment across the sector of over $700 million by the government since the agency was established in 2018 in order to grow in the civil space sector and create jobs right across the supply chain,” Mr Porter said.
Labor’s industry and innovation spokesperson Ed Husic said Labor has “enormous belief in Australia’s ability to innovate, and we are looking at every possible way to support emerging industries to provide strong and steady jobs for the future”.
“I’m in ongoing consultation with the Space Industry Association and am always energised by their ideas on how to best support the growth of Australia’s space sector,” Mr Husic said. “This year Labor announced a National Reconstruction Fund which will provide up to $15 billion of capital to invest in job-creating projects through loans, equity and guarantees.”
The federal government has added new sovereign defence priority areas in recognition of the changing nature of technology for the battlefield.
The government’s new priorities are:
Robotics, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence
Precision guided munitions, hypersonic weapons, and integrated air and missile defence systems
Space; and
Information warfare and cyber capabilities.
Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price said the four new sovereign industrial capability priorities announced on Thursday would help to build a robust, resilient and internationally competitive defence industry in Australia.
Priority areas are beneficiaries of grants from the Centre for Defence Industry Capability, the Next Generation Technologies Fund, and the Defence Innovation Hub to support R&D.
Sovereign defence capabilities are guided by the 2018 Defence Industry Capability Plan.
The original group of capabilities were for those needed in the next three to five years, or those in need of more dedicated monitoring, management, and support due to their industrial complexity, government priority, or requirements.
They were:
Collins class submarine maintenance and technology upgrade
Continuous shipbuilding program
Land combat vehicle and technology upgrade
And enhanced active and passive phased array radar capability.
Defence Minister Price said the priorities were essential to maintaining the Australian Defence Force’s combat edge.
“The new additions are also focused on providing secure, long-term employment to Australians in 21st century industries and technologies,” Ms Price said.
“These priorities build on our existing work of providing guidance and support to industry to develop the critical industrial capabilities which are essential for the ADF.
“A strong partnership with industry is fundamental to developing Defence capabilities.”
An Australian company that is exporting robotic parts to help with the clean-up of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant has unveiled its latest invention: a spider-like robot with magnetic feet for use in hazardous area inspections.
On Friday, Western Australia robotics company Nexxis officially unveiled Magneto-EX, a small robot that managing director Jason De Silveira said could be used by not only the oil and gas sector, but any industry where there’s a need for hazardous, confined space inspections.
The Magneto-EX robot.
Developed with the financial assistance and industry support of the CSIRO’s Data61, SixDe and National Energy Resources Australia, Magneto-EX can place its feet in small gaps and on narrow beams, adapting its body configuration to navigate complex geometry and through narrow apertures.
The company is now seeking partners for viability testing and a commercial release.
“Whether it’s operating at heights, deep underground or in the presence of toxic chemicals, industrial worksites are dangerous places,” Nexxis’ Mr Silveira said. “And confined spaces pose the biggest risk in terms of death or injury. Anything that can be done to keep humans out of these environments is a great step forward.”
Until now, robotic inspections haven’t been possible in such spaces due to the risk of ignition, he said. But Magneto-EX changes that.
“With its design approved, EX-certification, our prototype can work safely and reliably in the most extreme conditions, alleviating the risk to human operators,” he said.
“We’re confident Magneto-EX will not only save lives but will also dramatically reduce downtime costs at an industrywide level.”
Nexxis estimates that working in confined spaces is estimated to be 100 to 150 times more hazardous than operating on an open site, due to confined spaces not being designed for people to work in, often with poor ventilation that allows for hazardous atmospheres to quickly develop.
Western Australia’s Innovation and ICT Minister Don Punch said Nexxis’ Magneto-EX was a prime example of how the state’s robotics sector was “thriving and competing globally”.
“Innovation has an important role to play in growing and diversifying the state’s economy, and the Western Australian Government is committed to nurturing local innovators,” Mr Punch said.
Western Australia Chief Scientist Professor Peter Klinken: “Nexxis is a prime example of how innovative and technological expertise can be found right here in Western Australia.”
The National Energy Resources Australia’s chief executive officer Miranda Taylor said it had been “exciting” to help Nexxis on its journey so far.
“NERA’s support of Nexxis dates back to 2018 when they were a team of just eight and it’s been wonderful to have been able to provide that early support to them as they have grown.”
Ms Taylor said the next step for the company was to partner with early adopters and trial and refine the device, with the aim to make it available commercially “sometime next year”.
“Nexxis is helping to position Australia as a world leader in automated robotic inspection research and manufacturing,” she said.
“They’re already exporting robotic parts to help with the clean-up at the Fukushima nuclear plant. Magneto-EX is a major step forward in safer inspections in the industry.”
The Victorian government has announced it will put $73 million into the company behind the National Broadband Network to take fibre deeper into selected communities, providing better internet connections and faster speeds.
Federal Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said the funds provided to NBN Co would be used for partnerships to upgrade business connectivity and regional connectivity for communities served by fixed-wireless and satellite services. It will also go to areas undergoing a transition from fibre-to-the-node to fibre-to-the-premises-enabled technology.
In return, NBN Co has made funding available through its $300 million Regional Co-Investment Fund and $700 million Business Fibre Zone program to partner with the Victorian Government. Funds will be spent only on projects that are agreed between the parties, the federal government said.
The Victorian Government will invest $73 million into the National Broadband Network
“Improving internet connections around the state will allow businesses to expand, do things differently and employ more people,” said Victoria’s Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and the Digital Economy, Jaala Pulford.
“This will give regional businesses the opportunity to connect to high-speed and high-capacity Enterprise Ethernet at no upfront cost – on par with what’s on offer in Melbourne’s CBD.”
Currently, if a business wants a fibre connection they need to pay for the building of the fibre as well as a contract. The Victorian Government is subsiding the infrastructure to minimise costs for businesses, leaving them to only pay for their internet plan.
The first project will extend fibre deeper into selected communities, and create eleven new Business Fibre Zones in Benalla, Colac, Cranbourne East, Cranbourne South, Dromana, Hamilton, Lara, Packenham North, Packenham South, Warragul and Wonthaggi-Inverloch. In these areas, about 10,000 Victorian businesses will become eligible to acquire Enterprise Ethernet business-grade fibre connections, delivering symmetrical speeds of up to 1 gigabits per second, the minister’s office said.
Businesses in the first towns and sites will be able to contact their internet provider to order the new connections from September 1.
“Network investment in digital infrastructure in Victoria will create jobs both in the medium term, during the design and construction process, and over the long-term, by stimulating new businesses and greater productivity,” Mr Fletcher said.
Since NBN completed the initial build of its network, chief executive officer Stephen Rue said it has focused on directing further investment to network upgrades that will continue to enhance the capabilities of the network across Australia.
“We are delighted to work with the Victorian Government to identify opportunities to co-invest in the development and delivery of new nbn network infrastructure to support the Connecting Victoria Program,” Mr Rue said.
“Small and medium businesses are the backbone of our great nation. And ongoing network investment to enhance digital infrastructure in Victoria will create jobs both in the medium term during the design and construction process, and over the long-term by stimulating greater productivity and the proliferation of a stronger, more vibrant digital economy in Victoria. ”
Mr Rue noted that Victoria had been the first to make use of its co-investment program announced last year.
“The Victorian Government has been the first to seize this opportunity, and the program we have announced today fits perfectly with the Victorian Government’s overall $550 million Connecting Victoria Program,” he said.
The NBN presently connects over 11.9 million premises and there are $4.5 billion in network upgrades underway.
As part of the Connecting Victoria program, the state government is calling for community feedback on places where better broadband and mobile connectivity is most needed.
The rollout of a technology used by emergency services to more accurately pinpoint where people are when they call Triple Zero from a smartphone has finally been completed in Australia, eight months after it began rolling out and several years after the technology first became available.
Called Advanced Mobile Location (AML), the technology, first developed in 2014, allows all users with an upgraded Android or iPhone handset to automatically send their phone’s geolocation coordinates via SMS when a call to Triple Zero is made. Australia’s closest neighbour New Zealand went live with the technology in May 2017 in a rollout that took about four months.
However, the rollout of the technology in Australia has taken much longer, with it first noted in a June 2017 press release from then-communications minister Mitch Fifield, who said that AML would be used for Triple Zero mobile location and that the government would “shortly issue” tender documents related to the initiative.
Ongoing delays since then, as noted by an ABC investigation into it last year, prompted the Communications Minister Paul Fletcher to write to Telstra, which operates it for about $20 million a year, seeking an explanation. Later, Telstra CEO Andy Penn said at the National Press Club in July 2019 that “there is no delay in the rollout”.
According to the Department of Home Affairs, AML is capable of providing a caller’s location within a 5-metre radius outdoors and a 25-metre radius indoors. Based on deployments of AML in other countries, most calls (about 85 per cent) will provide location accuracy within 50 metres.
Soon after it began being rolled out, the technology helped emergency services in South Australia locate two kayakers on December 31 who were caught in strong winds three kilometres offshore, eliminating the need for an expensive air and sea search.
“Saving lives is the number one priority for our police and emergency services. This technology further enhances the capability of SAPOL to respond to emergency situations quickly and precisely,” SA Police Minister Vincent Tarzia said at the time.
“SAPOL Water Operations officers had clear-cut information to work from, allowing them to locate the kayakers quickly and return them home without injury.”
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher encouraged Australians to upgrade their Android or iPhone handsets with the latest software update to activate AML.
“Time is critical when you are in a life or death situation—that is why Advanced Mobile Location technology is so important,” he said on Wednesday. “It allows Triple Zero to send you help as quickly as possible.”
British Telecom, EE Limited, and HTC developed AML in the UK in 2014 as a solution to problematic caller location in emergencies, finding it was up to 4,000 times more accurate than existing system used.
In Australia, Triple Zero receives up to 27,000 calls nationally each day, and about 78 per cent of these calls originate from a mobile phone.
Home Affairs says AML lies dormant on a smartphone until an emergency number is dialled. Location functionality (GPS or Wi-Fi etc) will respect the user’s privacy settings until an emergency call is made and will revert back to the user’s privacy choices afterwards.
“The operating system provider (Apple or Google) does not receive any AML data; the user’s device simply passes it through the mobile network operator to Triple Zero. The SMS message containing the location information is not retained on the telephone after it is sent,” the Home Affairs department says in an FAQ.
AML will work automatically with Android phones version 4.1 or higher with Google Play Services installed. Meanwhile, iPhone users will need to ensure their devices are running iOS14.3 or later in order to have access to this service.
Every call to Triple Zero will continue to provide the following information to emergency services, whether or not AML information is available:
the service address as supplied by the caller to their provider
Push Mobile Location Information (Push MoLI) – based on mobile cell tower coverage
Standardised Mobile Service Area (SMSA) – a large geographic region showing indicative location (shows areas larger than Push MoLI)
The Emergency+ app can also be used to provide coordinates to emergency services.
Australian researchers have developed software that can reliably detect a premature baby’s face in an incubator and remotely monitor vital signs without the need to attach adhesive sensors on their fragile skin.
The software designed by University of South Australia researchers, published in the Journal of Imaging, involves a computer vision system that can automatically detect a tiny baby’s face in a hospital bed and remotely monitor its heart and breathing rates from a digital camera with the same accuracy as an electrocardiogram (ECG) machine.
An infant under blue light being detected by a neural network.
Vital sign readings matched those of an ECG and, in some cases, appeared to even outperform the conventional electrodes, the university said.
The advancement is a first step in using non-contact monitoring in neonatal wards, avoiding skin tearing and potential infections from adhesive pads.
Using artificial intelligence-based software to detect human faces is now common with adults, but the University of South Australia said this is the first time that researchers have developed software to reliably detect a premature baby’s face and skin when covered in tubes, clothing, and undergoing phototherapy – whereby a bright light is shone on them, making it challenging for computer vision systems.
As part of the research, seven infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide had their heart and respiratory rates remotely monitored using a digital camera while engineering researchers and a neonatal critical care specialist from the University of South Australia monitored the results.
Infants were filmed with high-resolution cameras at close range and vital physiological data extracted using advanced signal processing techniques that can detect subtle colour changes from heartbeats and body movements not visible to the human eye.
The experimental setup where the data recording was performed.
“Babies in neonatal intensive care can be extra difficult for computers to recognise because their faces and bodies are obscured by tubes and other medical equipment,” Professor Javaan Chahl, one of the lead University of South Australia researchers, said.
“Many premature babies are being treated with phototherapy for jaundice, so they are under bright blue lights, which also makes it challenging for computer vision systems.”
The “baby detector” component of the system was developed using a dataset of videos of babies in NICU to reliably detect their skin tone and faces.
Neonatal critical care specialist Kim Gibson said using neural networks to detect the faces of babies is a significant breakthrough for non-contact monitoring.
“In the NICU setting, it is very challenging to record clear videos of premature babies. There are many obstructions, and the lighting can also vary, so getting accurate results can be difficult. However, the detection model has performed beyond our expectations,” Ms Gibson said.
“Worldwide, more than 10 per cent of babies are born prematurely and due to their vulnerability, their vital signs need to be monitored continuously. Traditionally, this has been done with adhesive electrodes placed on the skin that can be problematic, and we believe non-contact monitoring is the way forward.”
Professor Chahl said the results are particularly relevant given the COVID-19 pandemic and need for physical distancing.
The study is part of an ongoing project to replace contact-based electrical sensors with non-contact video cameras.
It follows the University of South Australia team developing technology in 2020 that measures adults’ vital signs to screen for symptoms of COVID-19, which is now used in commercial products sold by North American company Draganfly.
