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AU Financial Review
7 hours ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Navigating Australia's evolving data landscape under new compliance pressures
In addition, fragmented systems create blind spots. This not only undermines compliance, but also makes it harder to detect security threats, innovate with confidence, or respond quickly to operational disruptions. 'Australian organisations are flooded with data. Data runs through every system [and] decision,' says Craig Bates, senior vice-president and general manager of Asia Pacific at Splunk, a leader in cybersecurity and observability. 'But the reality is, they're drowning in data but starving for insights.' Aurélie Jacquet, chair of the Standards Australia committee representing Australia at the International Standards on Artificial Intelligence, says many of these issues stem from a lack of continuous quality oversight. 'In the age of AI, ongoing data-quality management is inescapable,' she says. 'It is key for organisations [to] demonstrate how they manage data quality in a safe and responsible manner.' Governance gaps and regulatory pressure Poor enforcement of basic data policies remains a major vulnerability. According to the same Splunk report, many organisations still struggle to enforce key controls like where data should be stored, who should have access, and how long it should be retained. Bates says the pressure isn't just coming from local regulators. 'Global policies like the EU's General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR] are also shaping expectations, particularly for multinationals and any business working with customer data or deploying AI models.' Jacquet adds that regulatory pressure is accelerating a needed shift, pushing organisations to take a more deliberate, end-to-end approach to operational risk management, especially as AI becomes more deeply embedded in business operations. '[Organisations need to be asking:] What is good enough data quality that is appropriate to build data products or train AI systems safely and responsibly?' 'What are our data blind spots? How can we address them to ensure we deliver quality products and services?' Bates adds that leading organisations are finding ways to balance control and agility. 'They've put the right guardrails in place – and this includes clear policies, data quality standards, and visibility across environments.' Rising costs, slower decisions 'Today's biggest challenges – service disruptions, security incidents, flawed AI outputs – are all symptoms of poor data management,' says Bates. Disjointed data environments are costing Australian organisations in more ways than they realise. According to Splunk's report, 88 per cent of ANZ respondents say their data-management spend has increased in the past year. Bates says the cost burden goes beyond dollars and cents; it's also about speed and resilience. 'Compliance still matters, but it's not the full picture,' he says. 'More organisations are recognising that if they can't access reliable data quickly and securely, they're unable to respond effectively to threats, disruptions or even to change.' That's because fragmented systems obscure critical signals and force teams to work in silos. This slows down detection, delays recovery efforts, and makes it harder to launch or scale new initiatives. Practices like data federation — enabling organisations to access and analyse data without migrating — offers a path forward. Despite its benefits, only 20 per cent of ANZ respondents say they've fully implemented such capabilities. Those who have are seeing measurable gains including faster access to data. In fact, Australian organisations with a federated strategy have saved an average of AUD $1.9 million. Data governance in daily operations Clearly, navigating these fault lines successfully isn't just about technology. It's also about strategy and discipline. The organisations making real progress have moved beyond surface-level fixes. Governance is meaningfully embedded into daily operations. Visibility and data quality are also central. They prioritise trusted access to support confident decisions – and faster, more resilient responses. They also invest in modern data management practices like data reuse and tiering: global organisations that employ reuse are 46 per cent less likely to face hurdles with high data volumes, while 50 per cent of those using tiering report reduced storage costs. '[They've] made a clear decision to get their data house in order,' says Bates. 'Teams can get the right data at the right time, without delays or second-guessing.' Jacquet says positive progress is underpinned by intentionality and rigour. 'The more mature organisations have developed data-quality models,' she says. 'When they create or acquire datasets, these organisations set data-quality goals, data requirements and measurements that are specific to their use case.' From compliance to capability For leading organisations, compliance is only part of the puzzle. 'Make data your priority,' says Bates. 'If there's one thing to get right, it's building a trusted, usable data foundation that supports how your business actually runs. Without that, you can't scale AI responsibly, respond to data breaches quickly, or recover from downtime with confidence' he adds. 'Start small if you need to. But start.'
Daily Mail
28-05-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Mail
New 'ute and SUV tax' proposed to sting drivers in Australia
By Experts are calling for owners of large SUVs and utes to pay higher registration fees to make up for the damage they do to the environment and roads. SUVs and light commercial vehicles comprise nearly four in every five new vehicles sold in Australia and account for the vast majority of emissions, road wear and take up more space . As recently as 2014, small cars and family sedans dominated the ten most popular cars bought by Australian consumers. Ten years later, large cars comprised nine of the top ten most purchased vehicles in 2024. Milad Haghani (pictured), an associate professor in urban resilience at the University of Melbourne, says it's time for Australia to consider vehicle registration fees based on weight - meaning SUV and ute owners would pay more. 'Bigger cars mean bigger costs for everyone else - it's only fair those costs are reflected in how we price their use of public roads,' he wrote in The Conversation. 'Larger vehicles – no matter how they are powered – generally impose bigger costs on society than smaller cars. 'Large SUVs and utes (if powered by fossil fuels) have a far greater climate impact. On average, a small car emits 2,040 kilograms less carbon dioxide (CO₂) a year than a pickup truck. 'Bigger vehicles also need more space. Standards Australia has proposed making car-parking spaces larger to accommodate the trend to larger cars. Cities such as Paris have introduced higher parking fees for SUVs on these grounds.' He also said larger vehicles slow overall traffic flow. 'For example, they have longer braking distances and other motorists tend to drive further behind them than smaller cars. And at signalised intersections, a large SUV's impact on traffic flows is equal to 1.41 passenger cars,' he said. He also claimed that larger vehicles cause more road wear, which leads to higher road maintenance costs. 'Let's compare a vehicle with an axle weight of 500kg and a vehicle with an axle weight of 1,000kg. The second vehicle doesn't produce double the road damage – it produces 16 times the damage. This phenomenon is known as the fourth power rule .' Mr Haghani believes state-based registration fees have failed to keep up with the trend towards bigger and heavier vehicles. Vehicle registration is calculated in different ways between states and territories. In Victoria, for example, it is calculated primarily based on whether the vehicle was registered in a rural or metropolitan area while, in the ACT, it is derived from the vehicle's emissions. 'I absolutely cannot fathom why registration fee calculations should be so vastly different across states,' Dr Haghani told Daily Mail Australia. 'It's as though we collectively know what the contributing factors are; the reasons we pay rego in the first place, the costs it's meant to offset; but each state has cherry-picked just one of those elements to focus on. Emissions alone don't tell the whole story. Neither does your postcode.' Dr Haghani said a fair vehicle registration model would account not only for the size and weight of the vehicle, but how often it is driven in order to offset road surface damage, emissions and congestion impacts. Adjunct professor in Engineering at the University of Technology, Sydney Robin Smit agreed but added a fair change would go beyond a review of the registration system. 'There are several aspects to consider (e.g. safety, parking space, road damage), but from an emissions perspective it is important to look at the impacts over the whole vehicle lifecycle to ensure a fair comparison is made,' he said. Research suggests Australians are buying bigger cars for multiple reasons including tax incentives, a perception of greater safety and lifestyle. Dr Haghani revived calls to put an end to a luxury car tax loophole that critics claim incentivises roadusers to buy big. Research published last year by the Australia Institute found the Luxury Car Tax, introduced in 2000 to protect the domestic car industry, has the effect of subsiding luxury utes. In 2023 alone, the tax break cost Australians over $250 million in foregone revenue according to the think tank. The tax puts a 33 per cent tax on the value of any imported car over a certain threshold - this financial year it applies to vehicles valued at more than $80,576. However that tax does not apply to commercial vehicles, making it cheaper to buy an imported ute than a similarly priced sedan or small vehicle. 'With this current system, why wouldn't consumer go for a bigger, heavier option?' Dr Haghani said. 'They have already been subject to the commercials that have depicted them as "cool" and "family friendly" and all that, so of course there is every incentive (financial and psychological) to go big (and also match the size of the big cars around you and not feel vulnerable).'
Daily Mail
28-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE New ute and SUV tax proposed in Australia to help fight climate change
Experts are calling for owners of large vehicles to pay higher registration fees to account for the damage they do to the environment and roads. SUVs and light commercial vehicles comprise nearly four in every five new vehicles sold in Australia and account for the vast majority of emissions, road wear and take up more space. As recently as 2014, small cars and family sedans dominated the ten most popular cars bought by Australian consumers. Ten years later, large cars comprised nine of the top ten most purchased vehicles in 2024. Milad Haghani, an associate professor in urban resilience at the University of Melbourne says it's time for Australia to consider vehicle registration fees based on weight - meaning SUV and ute owners would pay more. 'Bigger cars mean bigger costs for everyone else - it's only fair those costs are reflected in how we price their use of public roads. 'Larger vehicles – no matter how they are powered – generally impose bigger costs on society than smaller cars. 'Large SUVs and utes (if powered by fossil fuels) have a far greater climate impact. On average, a small car emits 2,040 kilograms less carbon dioxide (CO₂) a year than a pickup truck. 'Bigger vehicles also need more space. Standards Australia has proposed making car-parking spaces larger to accommodate the trend to larger cars. Cities such as Paris have introduced higher parking fees for SUVs on these grounds.' He also said larger vehicles slow overall traffic flow. Mr Haghani believes state-based registration fees have failed to keep up with the trend towards bigger and heavier vehicles. Vehicle registration is an annual fee paid by road users to allow the government to recoup administrative costs and wear on public infrastructure. It is calculated in different ways between states and territories. In Victoria, for example, it is calculated primarily based on whether the vehicle was registered in a rural or metropolitan area while, in the ACT, it is derived from the vehicle's emissions. 'I absolutely cannot fathom why registration fee calculations should be so vastly different across states,' Dr Haghani told Daily Mail Australia. 'It's as though we collectively know what the contributing factors are; the reasons we pay rego in the first place, the costs it's meant to offset; but each state has cherry-picked just one of those elements to focus on. Emissions alone don't tell the whole story. Neither does your postcode.' Dr Haghani said a fair vehicle registration model would account not only for the size and weight of the vehicle, but how often it is driven in order to offset road surface damage, emissions and congestion impacts. Adjunct professor in Engineering at the University of Technology, Sydney Robin Smit agreed but added a fair change would go beyond a review of the registration system. 'There are several aspects to consider (e.g. safety, parking space, road damage), but from an emissions perspective it is important to look at the impacts over the whole vehicle lifecycle to ensure a fair comparison is made,' he said. Larger vehicles tend to emit more carbon than smaller vehicles, they require more fuel and do more damage to roads. A one-tonne vehicle has been estimated to do approximately 16 times the damage to roads than a vehicle half its weight while pickup trucks emit roughly 2,040kg of carbon dioxide more per year than small cars. Research suggests Australians are buying bigger cars for multiple reasons including tax incentives, a perception of greater safety and lifestyle. Dr Haghani revived calls to put an end to a luxury car tax loophole that critics claim incentivises roadusers to buy big. Research published last year by the Australia Institute found the Luxury Car Tax, introduced in 2000 to protect the domestic car industry, has the effect of subsiding luxury utes. In 2023 alone, the tax break cost Australians over $250 million in foregone revenue according to the think tank. The tax puts a 33 per cent tax on the value of any imported car over a certain threshold - this financial year it applies to vehicles valued at more than $80,576. However, the tax does not apply to commercial vehicles, making it cheaper to buy an imported ute than a similarly priced sedan or small vehicle. 'With this current system, why wouldn't consumer go for a bigger, heavier option?' Dr Haghani said. 'They have already been subject to the commercials that have depicted them as "cool" and "family friendly" and all that, so of course there is every incentive (financial and psychological) to go big (and also match the size of the big cars around you and not feel vulnerable).'
1News
23-05-2025
- Automotive
- 1News
The case for SUV and ute drivers to pay more to be on the road
Australian expert Professor Milad Haghani argues it would be fairer if owners of larger cars paid higher vehicle registration charges. In the year 2000, almost 70% of all new cars sold in Australia were small passenger vehicles —mainly sedans and hatchbacks. However, over 25 years, their share has dropped dramatically to just 17%, as a car "size race" took hold. Now, SUVs and light commercial vehicles comprise almost 80% of the market. Four in five new vehicles sold in Australia today are an SUV, ute, van or light truck. As larger vehicles become the new norm, they bring more road wear, urban congestion and demands on infrastructure such as parking. It's time to ask: should drivers of larger vehicles pay for the damage and disruption they cause, through higher registration charges? Generally, yes. Bigger cars mean bigger costs for everyone else. It's only fair those costs are reflected in how we price their use of public roads. There are several reasons for the shift to larger passenger vehicles in Australia. They include perceptions that bigger cars are safer and more prestigious, as well as lifestyle preferences. A loophole in the luxury car tax also encourages car buyers to go big. The tax was introduced on imports in 2000, and this financial year applies to vehicles worth more than A$80,576 (about NZ$87,000). Many utes and SUVs are exempt because they're classified as light commercial vehicles. The exemption applies regardless of whether the car is used privately or for business. Larger vehicles — no matter how they are powered — generally impose bigger costs on society than smaller cars. Large SUVs and utes (if powered by fossil fuels) have a far greater climate impact. On average, a small car emits 2040kg less carbon dioxide a year than a pickup truck. But even big electric vehicles can cause climate harm. The substantial resources required to manufacture a large EV creates emissions, which may undermine the climate benefits electrification promises. Large passenger vehicles also create health system costs. In road crashes, for example, they may better protect their occupants but pose greater risks to others — especially pedestrians and those in smaller vehicles. Research suggests for each fatal crash that occupants of large vehicles avoid, at least 4.3 fatal crashes involving others occur. Bigger vehicles also need more space. Standards Australia has proposed making car-parking spaces larger to accommodate the trend to larger cars. Cities such as Paris have introduced higher parking fees for SUVs on these grounds. Larger vehicles also slow overall traffic flow. For example, they have longer braking distances and other motorists tend to drive further behind them than smaller cars. And at signalised intersections, a large SUV's impact on traffic flows is equal to 1.41 passenger cars. In real-world terms, these differences add up. In the United States in 2011, the annual cost of light-duty trucks on congestion and lost productivity was estimated at more than US$2 billion (NZ$3.3 billion). Then there's the cost of road wear. You might think heavier vehicles just wear roads a bit faster than smaller ones. But in reality, the relationship is far more dramatic. Let's compare a vehicle with an axle weight of 500kg and a vehicle with an axle weight of 1000kg. The second vehicle doesn't produce double the road damage — it produces 16 times the damage. This phenomenon is known as the "fourth power rule". It means heavier vehicles cost far more in road maintenance. Curious to test it? The online Road Damage Calculator lets you compare the relative impact of vehicles of different weights. Vehicle registration offers a way to recoup the societal costs caused by large vehicles. Part of car registration fees go toward administration, but they also help governments pay for the broader cost of vehicles on public infrastructure and shared spaces. In Australia, car registration systems vary widely between states. Not all reflect the impact of the vehicles on the road. In Victoria, fees are based mostly on location — whether the car is registered in a metropolitan, outer-metro or rural area. In the Australian Capital Territory, fees are calculated on a vehicle's emissions. Queensland and Tasmania use the number of engine cylinders to set fees – a rough proxy for vehicle size, but not a precise one. In New South Wales and Western Australia, heavier vehicles pay more. South Australia and the Northern Territory apply different models again, using a combination of settings not directly based on weight. Larger vehicles take up more road space, contribute more to congestion, and cause exponentially more damage to road surfaces. These are exactly the kinds of impacts a vehicle registration system should help account for. So, what would a truly equitable registration fee model look like? Based on the evidence, it would not only account for vehicle size and weight, but also how often the vehicle is driven. After all, a heavy car parked in a garage all year causes less impact than one on the road every day. Several countries, including New Zealand, have adopted distance-based or road-use charging schemes for certain types of vehicles, which uses a combination of vehicle weight and distance travelled. As Australia's vehicle fleet continues to evolve, they should follow suit, with a smarter and more equitable registration fee system. Author: Milad Haghani, Associate Professor & Principal Fellow in Urban Risk & Resilience at the University of Melbourne. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence.
