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Category: Tim Watts

  • Govt fails to meet own cyber standards: ANAO

    None of the government entities recently examined by an Australian National Audit Office review have fully implemented the mandatory cyber security risk mitigation strategies developed eight years ago to safeguard the information they hold.

    The mandatory mitigation strategies are basic: application whitelisting, patching applications, restricting administrative privileges, and patching operating systems.

    Two of the entities that had self-assessed full implementation for one or more of the mandatory mitigation strategies – the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Attorney-General’s department – did so inaccurately in the 2018/19 financial year.

    The Prime Minister’s department claimed full implementation of the four strategies at the time, but the audit office has discovered it had not fully implemented the mitigation strategy for restricting administrative privileges.

    Parliament
    Massive problem: Auditor General says government failed to meet its own cybersecurity standards

    The opposition says the report is damming and reveals the exposure of sensitive information across government agencies.

    The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) late on Friday afternoon released its findings from an audit of nine government entities, including the three with responsibilities for the whole-of-government cyber security policy and support.

    The Attorney-General’s Department (AGD); Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade); Department of Education, Skills, and Employment; Future Fund Management Agency; Department of Health; IP Australia; and Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) were all examined.

    The Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Signals Directorate were also included in the review, but their cyber mitigation strategies were not assessed.

    All the entities examined by the Auditor General have agreed to its recommendations to improve cyber resilience.

    But those with the most responsibility – the ASD, Home Affairs and the AGD – have only “noted” the recommendation to introduce more accountability for implementation of cyber security requirements, arguing that is a task for the government and regulators.

    The findings reveal a failure to accurately self-assess the implementation of critical mitigation strategies in some entities and a majority reporting “Ad hoc” or “Developing” maturity levels of cyber mitigation.

    None of the three entities examined for cyber resilience – the PM&C, AGD and the Future Fund – were considered either cyber secure or cyber resilient by the Auditor General.

    Since 2013 the Australian government has mandated the implementation of at least the “Top Four” cyber mitigation strategies by non-corporate Commonwealth entities under the Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF) and its revised Policy 10.

    Only 24 per cent of non-corporate Commonwealth entities were compliant with the mandatory Top Four mitigation strategies in ANAO performance audits since 2014.

    There are a further four that are strongly encouraged, making up the “Essential Eight” mitigation strategies.

    But several audits have revealed low levels of compliance with even the mandatory four, leading to the Auditor General being asked to conduct another audit on the effectiveness of the PSPF self-assessment and reporting requirements, as well as the responsible agencies’ role in improving compliance.

    According to an audit released on latest review, “The implementation of cyber security risk mitigation strategies by the selected entities was not fully effective and did not fully meet the mandatory requirements of PSPF Policy 10”.

    The poor levels of compliance come despite warnings from Australian cyber and spy agencies that malicious cyberattacks are increasing in frequency, scale and sophistication.

    In the last financial year Australian government entities reported 436 cyber security incidents to the Australian Signals Directorate.

    In December a government-led parliamentary committee called for annual reviews to be conducted into the cyber resilience of Commonwealth entities flagging the same lack of compliance highlighted by the Auditor General.

    Shadow assistant minister for communications and cybersecurity Tim Watts said the report showed the Morrison government is failing to “do the basics” on cybersecurity.

    “How can the Morrison Government claim any credibility on cyber security when it can’t even implement its own cyber security standards across government?” Mr Watts told InnovationAus.

    “These are some of our most sensitive government departments. It’s not good enough that they are left exposed.

    “Once again we see the Morrison Government loves a cyber security media event, but isn’t there for the delivery.”

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  • Bipartisan support for local games sector is growing

    Politicians from both sides of the aisle have backed the growing calls for the federal government to better support the Australian game development sector.

    Shadow assistant minister Tim Watts moved a motion in Parliament on Monday calling for recognition of the potential of the game development sector, the transferability of skills in it and the potential for it to “help drive the post-COVID economic recovery in Australia, creating jobs and expanding a significant export market”.

    A number of Labor, Liberal and Nationals MPs spoke in support of the motion and called on more government support for the sector.

    Mr Watts said the sector is “often overlooked” by politicians and needs to be taken more seriously in Canberra.

    crossy road
    Crossroads: The Australian games development sector gets some bipartisan support

    “This is potentially a billion-dollar industry for Australia and a source of jobs with skills that are transferable into other high-wage, high-growth industries, like cybersecurity and software development,” Mr Watts said.

    “It would be a huge source of jobs growth and direct foreign investment into Australia as we begin our post-pandemic economic recovery. This is an industry that we need to grow as an ecosystem.”

    There has been no direct federal government support for the sector since the $20 million interactive games fund was scrapped by the Abbott government in 2014, after only half of its allocated funding had been deployed.

    “With the right federal support, we could grow the domestic industry and take an even bigger slice of this global billion-dollar pie. Despite the Australian video game industry punching above its weight globally, we are at serious risk of losing this potential billion-dollar growth development industry,” Mr Watts said.

    “We need the Australian government to back in Australia video game developers and the high-wage high-skill jobs they create. It is this disadvantage – a lack of government support that the Australian industry faces globally – that we have to address here in the chamber.”

    Nationals MP Pat Conaghan agreed that governments need to do more to support the sector.

    “Governments at all levels do need to do more … this is the pool of talented young people that we have in our communities across Australia that we need to support. We need to work with them and engage them so that we can ensure that Australia is a leading nation and ensure that there is a future for our young people,” Mr Conaghan said.

    Liberal MP James Stevens hit back at claims the federal government is doing nothing to support the industry, pointing to the likes of the research and development tax incentive and the export market development grants.

    None of these policies are targeted directly at the game development sector, which also can’t access the tax offsets on offer to the screen industry.

    “There is already good support for the gaming sector from both the Commonwealth government and the state government. At the Commonwealth level we are doing a lot of things generally that are opportunities for the gaming industry to use that Commonwealth support to access export markets,” Mr Stevens said.

    “I see a very exciting future for the gaming sector and probably the creative sector in this country and in particular in South Australia. We need the industry economies of scale and the workforce capabilities in place as well as support from the state and Commonwealth governments to see this industry grow. I’m very confident that it will.”

    Labor MP Susan Templeman said the Coalition has “missed a massive opportunity” to support the sector over its recent time in government.

    Fellow Labor MP Josh Burns said that a “little bit of government investment would go a long way to create jobs and help build this wonderful local industry”.

    Late last year Mr Watts, along with Liberal Senator James McGrath, formed the Parliamentary Friends of Video Games in an effort to educate politicians on the sector and push for greater support.

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  • Govt to amend Online Safety Bill with Labor support

    The government will move to amend the Online Safety Bill to provide more transparency and reviews after the controversial legislation was passed by the lower house with support from the Opposition.

    The Online Safety Bill hands new powers to the eSafety Commissioner, extending the online content takedown scheme to Australian adults, and allows for the issuing of removal notices for content deemed to be rated R18+ or higher, and to order the site or app to be blocked if it refuses.

    A set of basic safety expectations will also be outlined for Big Tech as part of the legislation.

    The legislation was given the green light by a Senate committee on Friday, and was passed by the House of Representatives on Tuesday afternoon.

    data
    Online safety: Labor will support governments controversial bill, albeit with amendments

    Labor supported the legislation in the lower house but is expecting a number of government amendments in the Senate to address the myriad concerns around the bill.

    Shadow cybersecurity spokesman Tim Watts acknowledged concerns about the bill, including that it vests significant power and discretion with the eSafety Commissioner, its lack of transparency about how this power would be used, its potential impact on the sex industry and for it to be used to remove content that is in the public interest.

    The government has been unable to address these stakeholder concerns, Mr Watts said

    “The safety of Australians online is of paramount importance and Labor will work with the government to iron out concerns with these bills in time for debate in the senate,” Mr Watts said in Parliament.

    “But in the meantime, Labor will not oppose these bills and we support passage through this place on the understanding that government amendments are forthcoming,” he said.

    “Labor considers that the government must consider further amendments to clarify the bill in terms of its scope and to strengthen due process, appeals, oversight and transparency requirements given the important free speech and digital rights considerations it engages.”

    The government amendments are expected to include increased reporting from the eSafety Commissioner on how the new powers are utilised, and a new internal review mechanism regarding these decisions.

    On Tuesday morning the Greens announced that they would be voting against the legislation, calling for it to be withdrawn and redrafted as it is “poorly drafted and could lead to widespread, unintended consequences”.

    “This bill would make the eSafety Commissioner the sole arbiter of internet content in Australia. It creates extraordinary powers for any one person to hold, let alone an unelected bureaucrat,” Greens senator and digital rights spokesperson Nick McKim said.

    “It also fails to provide for timely reviews or appeals of decisions made by the eSafety Commissioner. We are concerned that people opposed to sex work, pornography and sexual health for LGBTIQ+ people could abuse the complaints process to seek to have lawful online content removed. Public interest news that involves violent imagery, such as footage of police violence, could also be taken down.”

    While the Online Safety Bill has been discussed by the government for several years, it recently only gave stakeholders four working days to make submissions to the senate inquiry into the final piece of legislation, which was introduced to Parliament just a week after nearly 400 submissions were received on it.

    This short timeframe has “undermined confidence” in the process, Mr Watts said.

    “It is disappointing that the government has proved incapable of conducting a process that satisfies stakeholders in terms of process and substance,” he said.

    There is also a “worrying lack of conceptual and operational clarity” around how the new powers will work, with Mr Watts pointing to eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant recently saying that the “sausage” is still being made.

    “Finding the balance between free speech and protections against certain kinds of speech is a complex endeavour and we are concerned that this bill represents a significant increase in the eSafety Commissioner’s discretion to remove material without commensurate checks and balances,” Mr Watts said.

    “It doesn’t take much imagination to foresee a situation where, in the hands of an overzealous eSafety Commissioner, legitimate speech could be silenced – whether of racial or religious minorities expressing outrage at racist speech, or of women expressing outrage at sexual violence in the workplace.”

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  • Ransomware report a ‘missed opportunity’: Watts

    A government advisory group’s report on ransomware calling on Australian businesses to implement basic cybersecurity practices to mitigate risks is a “missed opportunity”.

    The Cyber Security Strategy Industry Advisory Committee, formed late last year and dominated by big business, released a report on Wednesday outlining the threat posed by ransomware, and the basic steps businesses can take to mitigate the risks.

    In contrast to a paper on the ransomware scourge released by the Opposition last month, the government’s expert committee does not include any recommendations for government or any calls for new policies. Rather, it focuses on what businesses should be doing, such as implementing the Essential Eight baseline features.

    Cyber threats: A government expert panel has no recommendations for ransomware policy

    The recommendations include basic steps such as multi-factor authentication, regularly updating software, training staff in cybersecurity, data lifecycle management, backing up data and built-in security features.

    The report has been backed by Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton, who is responsible for cybersecurity, saying businesses should move to implement the recommendations quickly.

    “Cyber criminals continue to see Australian businesses as an attractive target and ransomware is a particularly disruptive form of cyber-attack that can have devastating impacts,” Mr Dutton said.

    “The good news is that many ransomware attacks can be avoided by implementing basic cybersecurity controls and I urge businesses to take the time to review the advisory committee’s advice.

    The Labor discussion paper, released by shadow assistant minister for cybersecurity Tim Watts, instead calls on the government to develop a National Ransomware Strategy and take actions to reduce the attractiveness of Australian businesses for hackers.

    The advisory committee’s ransomware report “falls short of acknowledging the scale of the $1 billion problem”, Mr Watts said.

    “Instead of using the opportunity to launch a debate about the role government can play in shaping the calculus of ransomware gangs sizing up Australian organisations, the Morrison government continues its approach of playing the blame game,” Mr Watts said.

    “It’s not good enough to tell businesses to defend themselves by ‘locking their doors’ to cyber-criminal gangs. The Morrison government must do more to actively tackle the ransomware threat and develop a National Ransomware Strategy.”

    The committee, which originally offered recommendations on the development of the 2020 cybersecurity strategy, has been criticised for being dominated by big business interests, although representatives from some smaller cyber firms have since been added.

    The committee is chaired by Telstra chief executive Andrew Penn, and includes representatives from NBN Co, Northrop Grumman Australia, PwC and Macquarie Group. It also includes AUCloud chair Cathie Reid and FibreSense chair Bevan Slattery.

    The 14-page paper warned ransomware is one of the “most immediate, highest-impact cyber threats to Australia”, and said that Australian businesses can’t be complacent, and must take action and understand their legal and regulatory obligations around the issue.

    Along with the Essential Eight mitigation strategies, the committee also called for companies to ensure boards are aware of the risk and actively addressing it, and that cyber insurance isn’t relied upon as a strategy in itself.

    “Ransomware is one of Australia’s fastest growing threats as business spends more and more time participating in the digital economy,” Mr Penn said.

    “There are countless businesses that are attacked every day in Australia, and, in some cases, those victims could have prevented or minimised the financial loss and emotional impact they faced through the use of simple cybersecurity controls and employee education.

    “This paper is an important contribution to helping Australian businesses understand the risks of ransomware and prepare accordingly by drawing from the committee’s diverse experience.”

    Mr Watts’ ransomware paper instead focused on what actions the federal government could take to mitigate the risk and make Australia a less attractive target for malicious cyber actors.

    These policy recommendations included increased law enforcement, targeted international sanctions, offensive cyber actions and the regulation of ransom payments.

    “Ransomware is a jobs and investment destroyer at a time when the nation can least afford it. We need a new approach. It’s past time the Morrison government developed a comprehensive national ransomware strategy,” Mr Watts said.

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  • Govt must help business tackle ransomware

    Maksim Yakubets cuts quite the figure driving his custom fluoro camouflage Lamborghini through the streets of Moscow.

    According to indictments filed in the United States, Yakubet could live this lifestyle thanks to his role in the international ransomware gang, ‘Evil Corp’, which is estimated to have extorted about US$100m ($128m) from businesses and individuals around the world.

    The United States sanctions payments of ransoms to Evil Corp, but there is no equivalent restriction in Australia.

    In fact, despite ransomware being described by the Australian Cyber Security Centre as the biggest cyber threat facing Australia, there’s no dedicated government strategy for tackling this rapidly growing crime that brings in big bucks for international criminals at the expense of Australian businesses and consumers.

    Ransom guy: Evil Corp’s Maksim Yakubets on the streets of Moscow Photo credit: UK National Crime Agency

    Australia has recently seen high impact ransomware campaigns against high profile targets like Toll Group, Bluescope Steel, Lion, Spotless, Regis Healthcare, Law in Order, and regional Victorian hospitals.

    The Australian government does not currently collect statistics about the impact of ransomware, but analysis by security firm Emsisoft in 2020 estimated its total annual cost to the nation at a minimum of US$270 million (AU$348 million) and a best estimate of US$1.1 billion (AU$1.4 billion).

    The rapidly growing costs of successful attacks on targeted entities – in downtime, remediation, ransoms and supply chain interruptions – combined with the growing costs to all organisations of defending themselves against these attacks is an unsustainable burden on the nation.

    Ransomware is a jobs and investment destroyer at a time when the nation can least afford it.

    While individual organisations will always have the primary responsibility for taking the necessary steps to protect their IT systems from cyber threats, too often, blaming the victim becomes a cover for government inaction.

    It is past time that the Morrison government developed a dedicated National Ransomware Strategy that actively sought to reduce the number of ransomware attacks targeting Australia.

    The evolution of ransomware gangs into sophisticated, well-resourced organised crime groups presents both a challenge and an opportunity.

    The emergence of so called ‘big game hunting’ ransomware gangs that carefully research and select their targets to maximise the returns of attacks has increased the costs of ransomware.

    But this sophistication has also created the opportunity for new government strategies aimed at deterring these attacks.

    We know from interviews with these gang members and from the advertisements they post seeking affiliates that these gangs are aware of the differences in security practices, regulations and law enforcement practices in different nations. We can use this to our advantage as a nation.

    A National Ransomware Strategy that sought to increase the costs and reduce the returns of ransomware campaigns against Australian organisations, could send a message to ransomware gangs that Australian targets aren’t worth the effort.

    As the United States has done with Evil Corp and Mr Yakubets, one of the policy levers government could use as part of such a strategy is regulating the payment of ransoms.

    Ransom payments are the life blood or ransomware campaigns. More payments beget more attacks. On the other hand, if Australia became known as a jurisdiction where it was hard to get paid, ransomware gangs may choose to select targets elsewhere.

    In recent months, the former Directors of both the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the UK National Cyber Security Centre, have each called for the serious consideration of banning ransom payments in their respective countries.

    Australia should have this debate too as part of a broader discussion about the potential tools available to government to convince ransomware gangs that there’s no return on investment from targeting Australian organisations.

    Labor has released a discussion paper that canvases a range of tools government could employ as part of a National Ransomware Strategy to shape the target selection of ransomware gangs and ultimately to reduce the number of attacks targeting Australian organisations.

    None of the potential interventions identified in Labor’s discussion paper are silver bullets. But the threat of ransomware isn’t going anywhere soon and the government cannot leave it to Australian organisations to confront this challenge alone.

    It is time the Morrison Government took this threat seriously and developed a National Ransomware Strategy.

    Tim Watts is Labor’s Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security and the federal Member for Gellibrand.

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  • Govt launches $26.5M cybersecurity skills grants program

    Grants of up to $3 million are on offer for cybersecurity training programs as part of a $26.5 million national cybersecurity strategy initiative officially launched by the federal government this week.

    The first round of the Cyber Security Skills Partnership Innovation Fund was opened on Thursday, with grants of between $250,000 and $3 million on offer for applicants looking to “improve the quality and availability of cybersecurity professionals through training”.

    The grants will fund up to 50 percent of a cyber skills program, which will have to be a joint application from at least two partner organisations which may include universities, high schools, industry associations, state and local governments and businesses.

    Eligible activities for the grants include developing and delivering specialist cybersecurity courses for individuals, retraining programs, professional development, apprenticeships, new internships or cadetships and cyber labs and training facilities.

    There will be $13 million available as part of the first funding round, which will be aimed at building career pathways in the cybersecurity sector as part of Australia’s economic recovery from COVID-19, industry minister Karen Andrews said.

    “The Cyber Security Skills Partnership Innovation Fund will support partnerships between industry, education providers and governments to build the next generation of cybersecurity experts,” Ms Andrews said in a statement.

    “Cybersecurity is essential to our digital economy and needs to be strong in all areas, particularly in small and medium enterprises which comprise 98 percent of all Australian businesses. This fund builds on our commitment to keep Australians secure online, and to support building industry capability.”

    The fund was one of the initiatives included in the Cybersecurity National Workforce Growth Program, one of the deliverables under the Morrison government’s Cyber Security Strategy, unveiled last year.

    The grants will help to build on the other initiatives included in this strategy, home affairs minister Peter Dutton said.

    “Having more people trained in cybersecurity will build on the other measures funded as part of our $1.67 billion strategy to keep Australians safe online and protect against cyber attacks from malicious actors including cyber criminals,” Mr Dutton said.

    The first round will close on 11 March, with a second round expected to open before the end of the year.

    The fund was one of few initiatives in the strategy targeted at the local cybersecurity sector, with little focus on building the burgeoning industry.

    This was criticised by Labor cybersecurity spokesperson Tim Watts.

    “It looks like the government has given up on developing and growing the Australian cybersecurity industry altogether. There was no commitment on industry policy, on local content, on procurement, on SME involvement, or on maximising R&D spend to grow the Australian industry,” Mr Watts said.

    “During a recession, when we are trying to build sustainable, high-wage jobs for the Australian recovery post COVID-19, it is inexplicable that industry development seems to be completely missing from this strategy.”

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  • Trumpian debate over social de-platforming

    The suspension of US President Donald Trump from a number of social media platforms has kicked off a muddled political storm in Australia, with a parliamentary group set to be launched to push for further regulation of the tech giants.

    Following the violent storming of the US Capitol last week, Mr Trump was banned from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This led to significant debate in Australian politics over censorship and misinformation on social media, with politicians from both sides of the aisles calling for more transparency and stricter regulations for the likes of Facebook.

    Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chair Rod Sims, who has been driving the government’s crackdown on big tech, has also said that more needs to be done and further oversight is needed of decisions made by these big tech firms.

    Karen Andrews
    Karen Andrews: Supportive of new parliamentary group

    Now more than 50 MPs have joined a yet to be launched “parliamentary friends of making social media safe” group, led by Victorian Nationals MP Anne Webster and NSW Labor MP Sharon Claydon.

    Industry Minister Karen Andrews has thrown her support behind the new group, saying social media companies need to be more transparent about their decision-making.

    “There is a deeper question here that we need to start considering, which is the consistency, the fairness of these various rules. And what is that threshold? There have been many instances of comments that have been taken down from various platforms, but yet in some instances, these platforms are very quick to act when it seems as if the subject content is something that they don’t personally agree with,” Ms Andrews told 3AW.

    “That is unfair, it is inconsistent, and it lacks the transparency that we are looking. The conversation really is about social media ethics.”

    The new parliamentary group is about starting that conversation, Ms Andrews said.

    “We really need to make sure that we listen to what the Australian public is saying as a parliamentary group. So it’s a group of MPs that have come together because they have strong views on social media,” she said.

    “The first thing that the parliamentary group will do is look at what the issues are and how best to prosecute that. But of course, as a government we can and will continue to take action, quite aside from whatever advice comes through from that parliamentary group.”

    In an interview with the Nine newspapers, ACCC chair Rod Sims said further regulation may be needed around this issue.

    “Clearly the digital platforms do have some control over what we see and read. How much we can leave it up to the digital platforms…is one of the defining questions we have to face. We definitely need the government to get to grips with this; we can’t just leave it with the digital platforms,” Mr Sims said.

    A number of Coalition ministers raised concerns with the banning of Mr Trump from social media platforms, including acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack and Treasurer Josh Frydenbergy, while former Nationals Leader Barnaby Joyce called on the tech giants to remove more content from their platforms.

    The sometimes confusing debate has straddled freedom of speech, censorship and the role of tech companies in policing their own platforms, and how much say governments should say in this.

    Labor MPs, including shadow assistant minister for cybersecurity Tim Watts, have largely backed Facebook and Twitter’s decision to remove Mr Trump,

    “Major social media companies have self-regulatory policies that align pretty well with norms in democractic societies and they are right to enforce them when breached, whether for users inciting violence or otherwise,” Mr Watts told InnovationAus.

    “Social media platforms have a responsibility to stop people from using their platforms to incite violence, engage in hate speech or spread dangerous medical misinformation during a pandemic.”

    Mr Watts also called on the government to take a similar approach and rein in a number of Coalition members, including Craig Kelly and George Christensen, posting unverified and dangerous conspiracies on social media.

    “Scott Morrison has a similar responsibility to show leadership and stop his MPs from sharing dangerous conspiracy theories online. The Prime Minister should make it clear that he expects his MPs not to promote dangerous conspiracy theories, he said.

    “If they can’t agree to this, he should make it clear that he doesn’t want to be associated with them and seek their disendorsement.”

    Shadow home affairs minister Kristina Keneally also called on the federal government to not use any cloud hosting providers that offer services to controversial social media platform Parler, after AWS banned the company.

    “Government should use its customer power to make clear that it will not use internet hosting / cloud providers that host services like Parler that allow people to incite violence and plan terrorist attacks. Those that don’t follow suit and continue to provide services to these groups are complicit in their actions,” Senator Keneally tweeted.

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  • Lack of support for games sector is a tragedy

    A complete lack of federal support for local games development is a “real tragedy” and Labor will bring policies focused on the sector to the next election, shadow assistant minister for cybersecurity Tim Watts says.

    Led by Mr Watts and Liberal Senator James McGrath, a Parliamentary Friends of Video Games group was officially launched in federal parliament earlier this month, with a goal to educate politicians on the local games development sector and push for industry support.

    The sector has not received any federal support since the Australian Interactive Games Fund was cut by the Abbott government in 2014, and companies operating in the sector are ineligible for the tax offsets on offer to other arts sectors such as movie production.

    The government must view games development as a jobs-creating sector, Mr Watts said.

    Opportunity lost: The global games industry is bigger than film and music

    “It’s an industry sector that by revenue is bigger than film, television and music, but the size of the Australian video game industry is a fraction of our peers. That means we are neglecting a real opportunity for job creation,” Mr Watts told InnovationAus.

    “Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to be identifying new industries with high-growth potential, and gaming has the potential to create a large number of high-skilled, high-quality and high-paying jobs.”

    Labor is currently working to develop some policies targeted at the games development sector and will unveil them in the lead-up to the next federal election.

    “It’s still in the policy development process, and we’ll have more specific things to say closer to the next federal election,” Mr Watts said.

    “Since the election of the Abbott government there has been no federal support whatsoever for the gaming industry, and that’s a real tragedy.

    “You look at the talent and innovation in the Australian sector – we have indie games that are literally world beaters, but what we don’t have is a deep and diverse sector. We’re open-minded about the policy situations that are most appropriate here.”

    Federal policies need to help those working in the sector pursue whole careers there without having to leave Australia, Mr Watts said.

    “They can work for small, nimble startups, very large companies managing large teams and projects, and work with the board of a public company. All of those different experiences people want to get at different points of their career to have a rewarding and fledgling career, and created as many opportunities for Australia to do that here in Australia and not having to go overseas,” he said.

    Senator McGrath, who helped convene the video games group in Parliament, recently called for a 30 per cent tax offset for video game developers in Australia.

    “Something Australia should do, and I strongly support, is to introduce a 30 per cent tax offset for video games to grow a new information-based export industry, attract millions in foreign investment and create thousands of jobs,” Senator McGrath said in Parliament in September.

    “In many other countries there are tax incentives for games development. These exist in Canada, Singapore, France and the UK. Australia already has tax offsets for the film, TV, post-production and digital effects sectors but lacks this same support for domestic games development.”

    Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA) chief executive Ron Curry welcomed the newfound focus on games development in Canberra.

    “We know that billions of players around the world engage with games on a daily basis and we welcome the formal pathway Tim Watts and Senator James McGrath have created to formally engage with the Australian games industry and game players,” Mr Curry said.

    “The group has already expressed a desire to ensure that Australia remains competitive on a global stage and takes advantage of all of the opportunities a complete video game development ecosystem will create economically, creatively and culturally.”

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