Articles - QESP
By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics and PLuS Alliance Fellow, UNSW
- Monday, December 3rd, 2018
What if we had an opportunity to double the size of the tourism industry, or to quadruple the size of the beef industry, or to boost the economy by more than any of the presently proposed tax switches?
What if we could do it while permanently improving the lives of disadvantaged young people?
We surely wouldn’t let it slip away.
By Stephen Easton
- Monday, December 3rd, 2018
If you think cyber risk management is not the end of the world you are dead wrong, according to the federal government’s top adviser on these matters.
Alastair MacGibbon thinks a potentially cataclysmic cyber security failure is “the greatest existential threat we face as a society today” and the relevant authorities have not been taking it seriously enough.
He told delegates at last week’s National Investigations Symposium — who came mostly from regulatory, law enforcement and public sector integrity agencies, as well as internal integrity units — that “cyber-related evidence” would soon become integral in most of their investigations.
By ABC Science technology reporter Ariel Bogle
- Monday, December 3rd, 2018
Australia’s new technology surveillance laws are drawing increasing scrutiny from international privacy groups and technology companies.
Crimes, smartphone applications and data can cross borders thanks to the internet, and the proposed legislation is part of a push to allow authorities greater access to suspects’ secure messages.
“The lack of access to encrypted communications presents an increasingly significant barrier for national security and law enforcement agencies,” Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said when introducing the bill to parliament in mid-September.
By Ted Smillie
- Sunday, December 2nd, 2018
“Scepticism is an attitude that treats every claim to truth as up for debate. Religion, philosophy, science, history, psychology – generally, sceptics believe every source of knowledge has its limits, and its up to us to figure out what those are.” So says a 05 October 2018 article by The Ethics Centre, Ethics Explainer: Scepticism, […]
By The Conversation
- Thursday, October 25th, 2018
Vocational Education and Training (VET) is an important part of the education sector and trains people of all ages for occupations vital across all sectors of the economy. It also makes a major contribution to social inclusion.
Australia endlessly debates the ATAR level needed even to enter teacher-training programs for school teaching.
But it doesn’t seem to care about the qualifications of those who teach our young people, workers and citizens in VET. For the last 20 years, VET teachers have only been required to have a Certificate IV level qualification in VET teaching, and the industry qualification at the level at which they are teaching people.
By Ted Smillie
- Thursday, October 25th, 2018
The Australian Government’s failures are not for want of external advice. Our September 2018 Issue reported on CSIRO’s Data61 Digital Innovation report, which claimed “A focus on eight key digital industries would yield up to $315 billion in economic value”.
Now a 4th October article in The Mandarin by Stephen Easton, The most influential voices outside of government on improving the APS, reports on the influence of the Centre for Strategy and Governance (CSG), noting that “The 20 CSG members are mostly ex-secretaries or deputy secretaries and include two past APS commissioners, Lynelle Briggs and Helen Williams, as well as Ian McPhee, the immediate past auditor-general. Some of the newest to join them are recently departed secretaries Lisa Paul and Gordon de Brouwer, who also sits on the APS Review panel chaired by David Thodey.”
By Stephen Easton
- Thursday, October 25th, 2018
The New South Wales government’s chief information security officer Maria Milosavljevic unveiled the state’s first cyber security strategy in Sydney this morning.
The plan is backed by $20 million in funding and will be followed by a cyber security industry development strategy that is still being developed by the NSW Department of Industry. It builds on the relevant part of the NSW government’s existing digital strategy, and complements the national information security plan that was launched by the Department of Home Affairs in April 2016 and updated in mid-2017.
By Boston University School of Medicine
- Thursday, October 25th, 2018
Artificial intelligence (AI) driven by machine learning (ML) algorithms is a branch in the field of computer science that is rapidly gaining popularity within the healthcare sector. However, graduate medical education and other teaching programs within academic teaching hospitals across the US and around the world have not yet come to grips with educating students and trainees on this emerging technology.
By University of British Columbia
- Thursday, September 27th, 2018
Jobs in information technology — like computer software, big data, and cybersecurity — are providing American workers with long-lasting financial stability, suggests a new study.
By Ted Smillie
- Thursday, September 27th, 2018
Yes, those of us whose eyes tend to glaze over at statistics (not mentioning any names, Barnaby) have had a wake-up call. Australian Statistician, David W Kalisch made the following prediction at the Australian Market and Social Research Society Conference in Melbourne on August 10, 2018. “If the ABS continues to be subject to efficiency […]
