Firms behaving badly

Australian authorities have never had the power to break up big businesses that behave badly, but maybe they should, given the power of major corporates and their disdain for fair competition and consumer law.

CSIRO steps up to drive SME innovation

Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, has announced a $20 million investment to provide small to medium enterprises with greater access to vital research and development opportunities to accelerate their growth.

Understanding the right to disconnect

The ‘right to disconnect’ is coming to Australia and will give workers a break from having to reply to work-related emails, messages, or activities outside of their normal working hours. Will it help stressed Aussie workers find a better work-life balance by setting boundaries between professional and personal time?

Action not words on ESG

While many corporate boards profess the need to engage with environmental and social issues, the public won’t believe it’s any more than another form of public relations if they fail to instigate real reforms that put people and the planet first.

Real news about fake food

From ‘honey laundering’ to fake free-range, food fraud costs consumers billions and betrays their trust in what they feed their families.

Time for change in the workplace?

The relentless march of technology has delivered many labour saving devices but greater productivity has benefited employers more than employees. So will large language models and generative artificial intelligence deliver a golden age of social prosperity or drive millions out of work?

Checkout capitalism

As you pack your own purchases at Coles or Woolworths this week, having paid 50% more for your family’s food that you did a couple of years ago, take a moment to consider the ways Australia’s predatory duopoly dominates the nation’s food supply and exemplify the ‘chokepoint capitalism’ defined by Cory Doctorow.

Zombies in the corner office

Outdated “zombie” perceptions of leadership persist across society despite being repeatedly debunked, University of Queensland research has found.

The big rip-off

After decades of relatively stable prices, big Australian businesses such as the energy firms and supermarkets leapt at the chance to rack up prices and record profits after the pandemic.

The right to disconnect

Australian workers are set to have the right to disconnect from their workplaces once they clock off for the day.

Mixed reality – mixed results?

Companies such as Occulus, Microsoft and Meta have been trying to make virtual reality headsets happen for years, but Apple has a knack of dominating segments by charging twice as much for an established idea and pretending it invented them, so how will its $4,000 Vision Pro do? Can it make looking ridiculous cool?

The backlash against big tech

Governments around the world keep filing antitrust lawsuits against the ‘big four’ tech companies. Here’s why that matters for everyone who uses their products.