#society

Labor, at both the federal and state levels, is now deep into a multi-year string of regulations despised by startup founders: the proposed Division 296 tax on unrealised superannuation gains above A$3M, the mooted increase to sophisticated investor thresholds (from $250k income / $2.5M assets to $450k / $4.5M), the abolition of non-compete clauses below the high-income threshold, the Right to Disconnect, Victoria’s work-from-home legislation, tightened ESS reporting requirements, and now the 2026–27 CGT reform.

Is Australia destined to become a training ground for world-class founders and engineers, only to see them move to the US as their careers take off? This is not our destiny, but we need smarter, industry-friendly policy to build an alternative path, where startups start, thrive, and therefore stay in Australia. Let’s be the beneficiary of brain drain, not the victim.

The Australian Government is about to make it nearly impossible for successful startup workers to reinvest their earnings into new startups. Let’s explore the upcoming changes and how they will affect startups, workers, and the Australian economy.

We’re entering an exhilarating period of technological development, but most of us haven’t noticed. Grim expectations for the future pervade despite our progress towards solving many of our most worrying problems and overwhelming improvements to quality of life.

Some software engineers are worried about AI taking their jobs. Some SaaS founders are excited for cheaper R&D costs, while others are fearful of the new market entrants this will empower. Today, we explore the potential impact of developer copilots, no-code, and app-generating LLMs.