Australia needs an artificial intelligence “early warning system” to help defend against the dangers of the increasingly powerful technology, according to the nation’s cyber intelligence chief. Australian Signals Directorate director-general Abigail Bradshaw also urged Australian organisations to embrace AI for its defensive capabilities, saying it was one of the crucial tools that the nation needed to protect itself. It comes …

As debate about how to reduce Australia’s migration intake rages, much of the conversation has focused on a single figure. It’s known as “net overseas migration”, or the NOM for short. What’s the perfect number? Is it 225,000, or 130,000, or something else entirely? Both Labor and the Coalition have indicated the NOM is higher than they want right now …

Australia’s university lobby has accused One Nation of “joining the conga line” with the government and Coalition on populist jockeying, in a crackdown on international students that would leave the country poorer and less skilled. One Nation has proposed cutting international student numbers by hundreds of thousands, with party leader Pauline Hanson calling universities “visa factories”. “One Nation are just …

The story of Australia since colonisation is a story of migration, and the country’s immigration system is once more at the centre of heated political debate. But how accurate are claims that immigrants are arriving in record numbers? And is this the biggest shift in the country’s population ever? This chart tracks a figure known as “net overseas migration”, or …

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has thanked Western Australia’s Liberal leader Basil Zempilas for directing votes to her party at the weekend’s Secret Harbour by-election, calling him a “man of vision and common sense”. Luke Herdegen easily won the by-election in the outer-suburban seat, previously held by Labor for almost 20 years, giving One Nation its first parliamentary seat in WA’s …

Australia will miss the economic benefits of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom unless businesses actually use the technology to make bigger changes, Treasury has warned. New advice provided to Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Australia’s current AI uptake was widespread but shallow, with less than 10 per cent of businesses reporting “significant” adoption. The Treasury note said much-feared job losses have …

Australia’s house price correction steepened in August. According to Cotality’s daily dwelling values index, which tracks value changes across Australia’s five major capital city markets, home prices declined by a hefty 1.2% at the 5-city aggregate level in August. As illustrated in the chart above, declines were broad-based, with significant losses reported across the five major capital city markets. Over …

Bill Gates has issued a stark warning about the global terror that artificial intelligence could soon unleash. The billionaire Microsoft co-founder warned on Wednesday that AI could cost millions their jobs and help create a devastating ‘bioterrorism weapon’ capable of threatening humanity. It is a scenario, Mr Gates claimed, bosses of tech companies are intentionally hiding from the public. In an essay, the former tech boss …

A property developer who is wanted by police over fraud allegations is set to face a corruption inquiry from overseas. Allegations Liberal Party operatives sought cash from Jean Nassif in exchange for political outcomes are being investigated by the Independent Commission Against Corruption. Nassif fled to his ancestral homeland Lebanon in late 2022 with a NSW Police arrest warrant out …

More than 160 people have died, and hundreds of tourists and hikers are missing after a flash flood hit the Tibet-Nepal border. The torrent of water swept through the Himalayan border region on Wednesday morning, local time, killing at least 162 people in Nepal and three in Tibet, according to local authorities and reports. Almost 600 foreigners were among 826 …