www.dspanz.org

January Newsletter

DSPANZ News

DSPANZ sent letters to incoming Aotearoa New Zealand Ministers in early 2024, congratulating them on their respective appointments following the 2023 general election. Read more here.

Digital ID Bill 2023 and Digital ID (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Bill 2023

We provided a submission to the Senate Standing Committees on Economics to their inquiry on the Digital ID Bill 2023 and Digital ID (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Bill 2023 on 18 January. Find a summary of this submission and access a full copy here.

Industry News

Consultation on New Cyber Security Legislation

The government is currently consulting on proposed new cyber security legislation and changes to the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018, with submissions closing on 1 March. Learn more in the consultation paper and register for upcoming town halls and awareness sessions here.

GST Administration Annual Performance Report 2022-23
The ATO has published their GST Administration Annual Performance Report for 2022-23. In summary:

$81.3 billion raised in GST which is 10.% higher than in 2021-22
$4.8 billion raised from ATO compliance activities
The net GST gap calculated for 2021-22 was estimated to be approximately 3.6% - meaning the ATO received over 96% of GST revenue expected to be collected.

The ATO and Treasury also released an updated ATO - Treasury Protocol, which outlines each agency's broad roles and responsibilities with respect to shared stewardship of Australia’s tax system and aspects of the superannuation, foreign investment and registry systems

Governments Interim Response to Safe and Responsible AI in Australia
The government released their interim response to the safe and responsible AI in Australia consultation on 17 January. This document outlined the principles guiding the government’s response and proposes several next steps, including:

Preventing harm from occurring through testing, transparency and accountability
Clarifying and strengthening laws to safeguard citizens
Working internationally to support the safe development and deployment of AI
Maximising benefits of AI

ATO Removing Hyperlinks in SMS
The ATO is in the process of removing hyperlinks from all outbound unsolicited SMS by Tax Time 2024. Removing hyperlinks will help combat ATO impersonation scams and make it easier for the community to identify legitimate ATO SMS communications. Learn more about this change here.

Updated ATO website
The ATO’s updated website is here to stay. From today - 30 January - you’ll no longer be able to access their legacy website. Learn more about the website update here.

Events

Women in Tech Fest
We are proud to support the 8th Women in Tech Fest held in Melbourne from 20 - 22 February. Women in Tech Fest is Australia’s only event that equips you with the technical knowledge, in-demand skills, and leadership strategies you need to advance your career and organisation. Build knowledge, develop skills and network in a welcoming environment that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion in tech.

DSPANZ is offering a FREE 2 day pass to the first member who emails donna.burridge@dspanz.org.

Member Spotlight

Who are you?
Wrkr Ltd (ASX:WRK) is a 40 person 'regtech' business. We are proudly Australian-owned and operated. Wrkr is a regulatory technology business for Australian employers helping to simplify and streamline workforce compliance from hire to retire. We replace paper-based compliance processes across onboarding, payments, and SMSFs with a simple, sophisticated, and secure digital experience.Our people are passionate about making compliance easy for employers and employees.

What do you do?
We provide a single platform and SaaS products to streamline and digitise compliance across pay, super and onboarding.

Where are you located?
We are based in Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, Brisbane and Adelaide today.

Who can people contact for more information?
Email us or visit our website.

Until next time,
The Team at DSPANZ.