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The federal election winner will take on a digital economy struggling to attract tech talent and a world on alert for a Russian cyber offensive.
"We are seeing a skills shortage everywhere, everywhere in the world, especially in some of the areas we operate - cyber, large networks, communications," says Verizon executive Sowmyanarayan Sampath.
"That's why we have to work with governments, with universities, to get in early and build those skill sets," the chief revenue officer at the multinational technology conglomerate tells AAP.
On top of rising cyber threats to key infrastructure, this scarcity of expertise has particularly hurt the small businesses politicians of all stripes describe as the "backbone of the economy".
Almost nine in 10 jobs now require digital literacy skills, which many Australians lack.
Further, three quarters of Australian chief information security officers see human error as their organisations' biggest cyber vulnerability, according to research by US software firm Proofpoint.
Its Annual Voice report reveals 68 per cent of Aussie CISOs feel at-risk of a material cyber attack in the next 12 months, compared to a global average of 48 per cent.
Former United States ambassador to Australia, and namesake of Flinders University's Jeff Bleich Centre for technology and security, says some of the greatest threats reside in space and cyber.
"New technologies have empowered hostile nations, organised crime networks, terror groups and hacktivists with low-cost, high-impact tools," Mr Bleich says.
"The threats go beyond damage to grids, finance systems - they threaten things as basic as how we elect our leaders and govern ourselves, and how we will work with close allies."
Potentially bolstering security and innovation, Labor plans to add 340,000 jobs to the tech sector by the end of the decade if elected.
The coalition's jobs plan also aims to make Australia a top-10 data and digital economy by 2030.
Joseph Lyons, managing director for Australia and Asia at New Zealand-headquartered Xero, says technology, upskilling and digital support for small businesses have been a campaign focus from both sides.
"It's important their needs are taken into account," he insists.
A poll of small business operators by the tech firm found more than 40 per cent consider policies supporting them to be their top factor when deciding who to vote for.
It also found small business technology adoption lagging, with many unprepared to move to basic innovations like e-invoicing.
Some 40 per cent have been impacted by the tech skills shortage over the past two years, while one third believe a cash rebate or grant to spend on technology would help them make use of more digital tools.
New payment systems, online bookkeeping and cyber security upgrades would be eligible under the $1 billion tax break in the last budget for companies to go digital.
Digital Economy Minister Jane Hume has also pledged to create an industry roundtable to thrash out issues and wants to attract women to the sector.
Labor says it will support more tech jobs through 465,000 fee-free TAFE places and an extra 20,000 university places.
But with immigration yet to ramp up and unemployment at its lowest since 1974, economists say there is little capacity in the economy.
The Council of Small Businesses Organisations Australia says skills and training boosts promised by both sides are welcome but don't address critical shortages members are experiencing today.
It is also important for the business owner to get federal support to upskill themselves, council CEO Alexi Boyd says.
Lars Leber, vice president Australia at Intuit QuickBooks, says whichever party wins, going digital is crucial to ensure firms have better cashflow from being paid quicker, can access capital and face less red tape.
"Just one in four small businesses are able to get the funding they need to start and scale operations," he says.
Interest rates are typically higher and banks often reluctant to lend to newer companies with small revenues.
Mr Leber says the next federal government can learn from others, including the UK's and its Help to Grow: Digital scheme to boost productivity and innovation.
Labor's big-ticket item came late in the campaign.
As the era of cheap capital comes to an end, its proposing a $1 billion critical technologies fund, working with superannuation and venture capital groups to back Australia's leading tech thinkers and their firms.
The plan is to engage industry to lift Australia's research and development investment closer to the three per cent of GDP seen in similar countries.
The coalition also intends to be a STEM superpower, with a fund to commercialise science, technology, engineering and mathematics breakthroughs.
Mr Sampath says Australia needs to have access to every piece of good technology written around the world and must upskill its people.
Diversity is also crucial for establishing and running cyber teams, tapping new talent pools from different backgrounds, ethnicities and orientations.
Verizon is on a heightened sense of alert around Russia and the potential for a cyber offensive but says security crews are not seeing anything they haven't seen before.
Mr Sampath says nine of 10 large breaches are by organised criminal syndicates for money.
"They're getting smarter, which is why all the people on the other side need to get smarter too," he says.
"It's not about James Bond, it's not about state secrets, it's about money.
"If you're a criminal enterprise, you can work from anywhere, you can work from home, from any country and get paid in a way that cannot be tracked through Bitcoin."
The government's 2022 budget pledged a bold $9.9 billion for cyber security over 10 years, including almost 2000 recruits for the Australian Signals Directorate to combat the expertise and reach of adversaries.
But they will take years to find and clear through extensive vetting.
Governments remain reliant on private sector expertise, investment by businesses to protect themselves and trusted partners.
"The government can't do it alone, Australia can't do it alone," Mr Sampath says.
© AAP 2022
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A man has been charged following an alleged stabbing on the state’s Far South Coast overnight.
About 12.40am yesterday Friday 20 May 2022, emergency services were called to a home on Beachview Close, North Narooma, following reports a 31 year old man had been stabbed.
Police have been told an altercation occurred between two men who are known to each other – aged 31 and 24 – during a party at the home.
The older man was treated at the scene by NSW Ambulance paramedics for stab wound to his buttocks and upper leg, before he was airlifted to Canberra Hospital in a stable condition.
Police seized a knife which will undergo forensic examination.
Officers attached to South Coast Police District commenced inquiries and arrested the 24-year-old man after he returned to the scene just before 8am Friday 20 May 2022.
He was taken to Narooma Police Station where he was charged with reckless wounding.
The man was refused bail to appear in Wollongong Local Court today, 21 May 2022.
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UPDATE 10.30am Saturday - A teenager reported missing from the Southern Highlands has been located safe and well.
The 14-year-old boy was last seen near Vale View Street, Moss Vale about 3.30pm yesterday (Friday 20 May 2022).
Following a public appeal for information, the teenager was located safe and well in Moss Vale about 7.10am today (Saturday 21 May 2022).
Police would like to thank the media and the community for their assistance.
Earlier today, a search was underway for a missing teenager from the Southern Highlands.
Zachariah Hart, aged 14, was last seen near Vale View Street, Moss Vale about 3.50pm Friday 20 May 2022.
Officers from The Hume Police were notified when he couldn’t be located or contacted and commenced an investigation into his whereabouts, enquires have established that he may have been in the vicinity of Moss Vale or Sutton Forest at 9.46pm.
Serious concerns are held for Zachariah’s welfare as he lives with autism.
Zachariah is described as being of Asian appearance, 155cm tall, of slim build and with medium length dark brown hair.
He was last seen wearing his school uniform from Southern Highlands Christian School. The uniform consists of a white shirt, green tie and grey pants.
Anyone who may have knowledge of Zachariah’s whereabouts are urged to contact Southern Highlands Police Station or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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Australia has recorded its second official case of monkeypox with NSW confirming its first case after Victoria.
NSW Health had flagged the case of a man in his 40s who returned recently from Europe and confirmed the infection after further tests on Friday evening.
The man, and a household contacted are isolating at home, after he had developed a mild illness several days after arriving in NSW.
The Victorian health department confirmed a case of the rare tropical illness on Friday afternoon in a returned traveller from the United Kingdom.
The man in his 30s developed mild symptoms before arriving in Melbourne on May 16 and he sought medical attention almost immediately.
A general practitioner referred him for testing, which came back positive, and he was placed in isolation at The Alfred hospital on Thursday.
His close contacts may need to quarantine and some will be offered the smallpox vaccine.
Contact tracing is also underway for passengers seated near the man on flight EY10 from London to Abu Dhabi on May 15 and flight EY462 from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne on May 16.
They are being asked to monitor for flu-like symptoms and only isolate if they develop.
Australia joins Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal and the United States as nations dealing with outbreaks.
Monkeypox occurs mainly in central and western Africa, often close to tropical rainforests, and is considered endemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo where it was discovered in humans in 1970.
The illness can be transmitted from person to person through air droplets, close bodily contact or sharing contaminated linens or objects.
Four African countries - Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria - have reported cases of monkeypox in 2022.
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said monkeypox was a rare virus and did not spread easily between people.
She said a large number of overseas cases were among gay and bisexual men and urged those men to "be aware of any unusual rashes or lesions" and to contact their GP or a sexual health clinic if concerned.
She said people should be "particularly vigilant" if they had returned to Australia after attending large parties or sex-on-premises venues overseas.
"The infection is usually a mild illness and most people recover within a few weeks," she said.
NSW-based sexual health organisation ACON urged gay, bisexual and men who have sex with men to remain vigilant and follow health advice.
"It's important we remember that viruses do not discriminate," said ACON CEO Nicholas Parkhill on Friday.
The WHO also called for vigorous contact tracing around the spate of cases.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said state health authorities are closely monitoring the situation and he'd been advised the virus was less contagious than COVID-19.
"We should be taking this seriously (but) at the same time I would say that no one should be alarmed at this point," Mr Morrison told reporters in Perth.
© AAP 2022
Image: This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. Monkeypox, a disease that rarely appears outside Africa, has been identified by European and American health authorities in recent days. (Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP)
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