In this episode of NewsWrap, senior reporter Joseph Brookes heads to the Tech Council of Australia's summit in Sydney, covering contributions from Industry minister Tim Ayres, NSW Premier Chris Minns and federal assistant minister Andrew Charlton, among others.
Sep 18, 2025•14 min•Ep. 199
In this episode of the Commercial Disco, Dr Andrew Charlton discusses Australia's opportunity to fully participate in the emerging global AI market, both as host to tens of billions of dollars worth of AI data centres, and for Australian companies building AI models and applications for global markets.
Sep 17, 2025•20 min•Ep. 198
In this episode of The Commercial Disco , GBG’s head of data innovation Michael Harmer explains why the case for a national ID in Australia is “dead in the water,” arguing that the country’s existing identity infrastructure, anchored by government-verified documents and services like the DVS, already delivers world-class assurance. Harmer discusses how AI is both a threat and an opportunity for digital identity, the importance of behavioural context in fraud detection, and why mobile credentials...
Sep 15, 2025•14 min•Ep. 178
After three years of war in Europe, Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko says his country has become a real-time battlefield laboratory, producing vast troves of invaluable data. Successfully defending against the Russian invasion has produced an amazing ecosystem of innovators from all over the world. The Ambassador says there are lessons and opportunities for Australia.
Sep 15, 2025•24 min•Ep. 197
Can Australia play an outsized role in the global regulation of Big Tech? Do we have the middle-power muscle to bring together a coalition of countries that would have the combined heft to push back on tech overreach? Tech Policy Design Institute co-founder and CEO Johanna Weaver digs deep into the global political and technological forces shaping the world right now.
Sep 12, 2025•26 min•Ep. 196
In this episode of NewsWrap, InnovationAus editor Justin Hendry explores the $US$1 billion PsiQuantum Series E capital raise and looks at how the Australian and Queensland governments' US$250 million fits in.
Sep 11, 2025•14 min•Ep. 195
In this episode of NewsWrap, InnovationAus senior reporter Joseph Brookes and James Riley dive into the latest issues papers published by the Robyn Denholm-led Strategic Examination of R&D.
Sep 04, 2025•13 min•Ep. 194
The Strategic Review of R&D (SERD) has published its first issues paper as part of its consultation process - this one looking at national coordination and governance of R&D spending. And the Tech Council gets itself out of step with other groups with a call to boost R&D spending target to just 2 per cent.
Aug 28, 2025•12 min•Ep. 192
In this episode of The Commercial Disco , chief executives of the Future Skills Organisation, Patrick Kidd, and the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers, Amanda Linton, warn of a 250,000-worker shortfall across finance, tech, and business by 2030. Kidd highlights the 70 per cent gap of current skills will change in just three years, while Linton stresses that AI is enhancing, not replacing, professions like bookkeeping, with employers now prioritising communication and critical thinking alongside ...
Aug 26, 2025•28 min•Ep. 189
The Productivity Commission sets out in detail the massive upside for Australia in introducing AI tools across the economy. But it also warns that the government financial support for building Australian large language models (LLMs) or the AI factories that train them is a terrible idea. In this episode of the Commercial Disco podcast, Productivity Commissioner Stephen King says simply that government is “a terrible entrepreneur”.
Aug 22, 2025•20 min•Ep. 191
In this week's News Wrap, editorial director James Riley and editor Justin Hendry discuss what came out of the Economic Reform Roundtable, why the Productivity Commission is against industry support for sovereign AI and the latest R&D investment projections.
Aug 21, 2025•12 min•Ep. 190
When former Cabinet minister Ed Husic announced in March that government had accepted all the recommendations of its STEM Diversity review, it came as a surprise to many – including his government colleagues. The announcement was made before the policy had been agreed. Join Justin Hendry and James Riley for the week's biggest stories.
Aug 14, 2025•12 min•Ep. 188
Catherine Livingstone has one of the best business brains in the country, and ahead of the economic roundtable in Canberra next week she has called for a bold, system-level approach to the economic policy discussion. She joins James Riley on the Commercial Disco.
Aug 13, 2025•21 min•Ep. 187
Professor Tanya Monro is six and half years into her role as Chief Defence Scientist and says the urgency of the work within the Defence Science and Technology Group is the biggest change over that time. In this interview, Professor Monro talks about the evolving structure of Defence’s technology and innovation infrastructure and gives a practical tutorial on the best ways that entrepreneurs and SMEs with specific technology can engage.
Aug 11, 2025•18 min•Ep. 186
Copyright has become a central issue in the national debate about driving productivity improvements, and on extracting the maximum value from AI The Productivity Commission had its say this week in the first interim report of its Five Pillars review. Justin Hendry and James Riley discuss the week.
Aug 07, 2025•10 min•Ep. 185
In this episode of The Commercial Disco , CyberArk’s Head of Public Sector Derek Moir joins InnovationAus.com publisher Corrie McLeod to unpack why identity -- both human and machine -- has become the new frontline in cybersecurity. As government agencies rapidly shift to cloud and SaaS platforms, Mr Moir warns that many are still lagging in how they manage identity, leaving systems exposed to escalating threats, including AI-driven attacks and post-quantum vulnerabilities. He calls for urgent c...
Aug 07, 2025•13 min•Ep. 184
Just 24 hours after launching its historic Eris TestFlight 1 mission, Gilmour Space Technologies' CEO Adam Gilmour takes a deep dive into the technical circumstances of its first flight, and what the road toward a TestFlight 2 mission looks like.
Aug 03, 2025•15 min•Ep. 183
Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar's speech to the National Press Club attracted plenty of interest this week - and raised many eyebrows - as it explored opportunities for Australia in AI intelligence. And there was the maiden flight of Gilmour Space Technologies' orbital vehicle. Here's the latest from James Riley and Justin Hendry.
Jul 31, 2025•14 min•Ep. 182
In this episode of The Commercial Disco , James Riley speaks with Dr Daniel Rossetto, a prominent voice in global environmental finance and adjunct professor at the University of Adelaide on Australia’s political mandate post-election and what it signals for national climate policy and net-zero ambitions. Dr Rossetto underscores the urgency for Australia to define post-2030 renewable energy targets and intermediate climate goals for 2035, as well as long-term policy certainty to catalyse private...
Jul 28, 2025•20 min•Ep. 179
In this episode of The Commercial Disco ., editorial director James Riley talks to Luke Coleman, chief executive of the newly named Australian Telecommunications Alliance (formerly the Communications Alliance) about the expectations of the industry for the 48th Parliament of Australia.
Jul 25, 2025•32 min•Ep. 181
In this episode of The Commercial Disco , InnovationAus.com's editorial director James Riley and editor Justin Hendry unpack the United States’ newly released National AI Action Plan. Plus, we cover the latest in Australia’s tech scene --from new NRF biotech investments and NDIS digital reforms to the ongoing debate over AI regulation.
Jul 24, 2025•12 min•Ep. 180
The first sitting week of the new Parliament starts next Tuesday, and in this episode of News Wrap, InnovationAus.com editor Justin Hendry and senior reporter Joseph Brookes preview the policy priorities for the new term.
Jul 17, 2025•11 min•Ep. 177
This week the InnovationAus editorial team discuss the machinery of government changes that shifted delivery agency Services Australia to the Department of Finance, and prospects of Australia joining Horizon Europe - the world's largest research fund - as an associate member. Plus everything else that happened this week.
Jul 10, 2025•12 min•Ep. 176
Australia has some big decisions to make as policymakers look for ways to extract the maximum productivity value from artificial intelligence across the economy, while also building a sovereign industry. Vault Cloud CEO Rupert Taylor-Price has been a long-term advocate for local industry, and is one of the clearest thinkers on technology issues.
Jul 07, 2025•17 min•Ep. 175
This week was all about artificial intelligence and the national productivity debate. InnovationAus.com editor Justin Hendry joins James Riley to talk through the stories behind the headlines.
Jul 03, 2025•13 min•Ep. 174
On this episode of the Commercial Disco, InnovationAus.com publisher Corrie McLeod talks to DigiCert chief executive Dr Amit Sinha about post-quantum threats, exploding machine identities and shrinking certificate lifespans, that are converging into a “perfect storm” for digital security leaders.
Jul 03, 2025•14 min•Ep. 173
Tendertrace co-founder and chief revenue officer Luli Adeyemo has just returned from a successful trip to London Tech Week. In this episode of the Commercial Disco podcast, she talks about the company's plan to expand into the UK market later this year, and explores why London Tech Week is such a powerful event on the international technology event calendar.
Jul 01, 2025•16 min•Ep. 172
In this episode of the Commercial Disco, Galileo Ventures co-founder and partner James Alexander puts forward a $5 billion, five-pillar strategy for developing sovereign AI capability and a strong local AI industry.
Jun 30, 2025•24 min•Ep. 171
The NSW and Queensland governments both delivered budgets this week, and both states unveiled substantial programs within the tech and innovation communities. InnovationAus.com editor Justin Hendry covered both.
Jun 26, 2025•12 min•Ep. 170
In this episode of the Commercial Disco, editorial director James Riley talks to PEXA chief technology officer Eglantine Etiemble about the evolution of the company from a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) initiative into a listed company processing more than 90 per cent of property transactions in Australia.
Jun 26, 2025•21 min•Ep. 169