Key posts
- Federal grants promised to no one in particular
- Laws to stop Optus-style hackers stealing your face inch closer
- This morning’s headlines at a glance
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Federal grants promised to no one in particular
An early review of a $3.2 billion community grant program run by the previous government has found cash funnelled to projects without any organisation backing them, successful applicants not told they had won assistance and money given to projects identified only by their state.
Infrastructure Minister Catherine King has revealed in at least one case, a grant has gone to a company owned by a Cayman Island-based investment firm while money has also flowed to a private golf club that charges $1242 a year for membership.
The Community Development Grant program was one of 11 programs identified in a special investigation by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that heavily favoured either Coalition-held seats or marginal Labor electorates.
The program was created after the 2013 federal election by the government of then prime minister Tony Abbott to fund various promises it had made ahead of the poll.
Read the full story here.
Laws to stop Optus-style hackers stealing your face inch closer
Fresh laws to constrain the rampant use of facial recognition technology in Australia are a step closer to reality as the Optus data breach sparks new debate about how much personal information Australians are handing over online.
Facial recognition technology, which relies on video surveillance to match images of people’s faces with data collected via cameras, is being increasingly deployed by local retailers, police and even schools.
Facial recognition systems are becoming more common and Australia does not have a dedicated federal act to control it.Credit:Getty Images
Australia has no specific federal law to regulate facial recognition but University of Technology Sydney researchers, including former human rights commissioner Professor Edward Santow, have created a proposed model law.
“As we see facial recognition being used more and more, we need to crack down on the unnecessary collection of that information, then storage, then use and misuse,” Santow said. “There is no more sensitive information.”
More on this issue here.
This morning’s headlines at a glance
Good morning and thanks for your company.
It’s Tuesday, September 27. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.
Here’s what you need to know before we get started.
- An early review of a $3.2 billion community grant program run by the previous government has found cash funnelled to projects without any organisation backing them. Shane Wright has the full story.
- The Coalition has proposed a shake-up of Australia’s taxation system in an attempt to boost employment and tackle inflation. As regular readers of this blog will know, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has flagged this year’s budget will be a “bread-and-butter” document.
- The debate over the proposed federal corruption watchdog continues. As David Crowe has written, the attorney-general has confirmed the watchdog will be able to investigate “any person” who has tried to get public officials to engage in dishonest conduct.
- A leaked email has revealed that Lidia Thorpe’s former chief-of-staff has apologised to Aboriginal elders and described the senator’s conduct at a meeting last year as appalling.
- Australia will be in charge of the final moments of NASA’s mission to smash into an asteroid, according to Liam Mannix.
- Nick Bonyhady writes that the recent Optus hack has thrown the spotlight onto Australia’s lack of federal regulation when it comes to facial recognition systems.
- And in international news, a Russian military officer has been shot at an enlistment office. It comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin attempts to mobile hundreds of thousands of army reservists to assist in his invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russia has given former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowdon citizenship.
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