The Business Council of Australia has urged a higher, broader GST and an effort to boost the participation of women in the labour force, in an economic action plan released today. It says there should…
The government has more than financed the $3.8 billion cost of moving early to an Emissions Trading Scheme, with savings including a crackdown on fringe benefits for cars, cuts to the number of senior…
Kevin Rudd has set out a “national competitiveness agenda” for Australia and said the nation must lift its annual productivity growth rate to 2% or better. Addressing the National Press Club, the Prime…
The Reserve Bank of Australia today cut the cash rate by 25 basis points to a record low of 2.75%, but some experts have questioned whether the central bank cut too soon. In a statement issued today, central…
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission today granted conditional approval to an alliance between Qantas Airways Limited and Emirates, a move experts say will benefit Europe-bound passengers…
The entire editorial board of a US academic journal has resigned in protest over restrictions that would require scholars to wait up to 18 months before making their published research more widely available…
Human Services Minister Kim Carr is doing the rounds of Australian universities to encourage researchers to dip into the honeypot of data which his department is making available. The material provides…
ANU has become the first Australian member of Massive Open Online Course provider edX, with ANU professor and Nobel Laureate Brian Schmidt to teach one of ANU’s first online courses. edX is owned jointly…
Fairfax chief executive Greg Hywood has dismissed the threat from the impending Australian launch of UK media group The Guardian, telling shareholders it is not a strong competitive brand in Australia…
Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation and Georgina Moore, The Conversation
Marius Kloppers, who today announced his intention to resign as CEO of mining firm BHP Billiton, leaves behind a formidable legacy in both mining and politics as head of a firm that campaigned for a scaled-down…
Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation and Sally Zou, The Conversation
Treasurer Wayne Swan today announced that the mining tax had raised $126 million in the six months following its introduction, well below the $2 billion the government had expected it to yield this financial…
The United States has backed a project that aims to translate American textbooks into Arabic and make them available without copyrights restrictions to educators and students in the Middle East. The Open…
Qantas’ decision to strengthen its ties with Dubai-based airline Emirates and scale back its relationship with British Airways has been placed under a new shadow, following the release of new travel data…
Google has triumphed in a High Court case with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, in what experts say is a setback for the competition regulator and a loss for consumers. The ACCC had…
Two senior ministers in the Gillard government resigned today, prompting an unexpected cabinet reshuffle just eight months out from the general election. Nicola Roxon resigned her role as Attorney-General…
Retailing giant Wesfarmers says it is encouraged by growth in online sales at its Officeworks and Target stores, after the brands posted small lifts in total sales during the last quarter. But retailing…
Activists pushing for free, open access to academic papers will eventually defeat publishers who seek to lock scholarly findings behind paywalls, the founder of the world wide web said today. Sir Tim Berners-Lee…
“The internet must remain open but also secure,” Prime Minister Julia Gillard said today, flagging plans for the development of a new Cyber Security Centre by the end of the year. Ms Gillard said with…
The architect of Australia’s student loan system has poured cold water on a report highlighting record levels of student debt, saying he would not be surprised if a fifth of all student debt was never…
Online course host Coursera will verify the identities of participating students using web cams and technology that can fingerprint an individual’s unique typing style under a pilot project announced this…
Law reform is required to support innovation and enable Australian universities to compete with the rest of the world in online education, say leading Australian educators. In their submissions to the…
Treasurer Wayne Swan has acknowledged it’s unlikely the government will deliver the budget surplus it had been promising for next year, following the release of a disappointing monthly financial statement…
Open Universities Australia has made the list in a lottery draw held by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to help assign new generic top-level domains. Open Universities Australia…
New laws to govern publishing on the internet will likely be needed in future, the chair of the UK’s biggest inquiry into media practices and phone hacking has said. Lord Justice Brian Leveson made the…
Lord Justice Leveson has released the recommendations of the Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press, which was prompted by the Murdoch press phone hacking scandal that erupted last…