Latest news with #governmentcontract
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Grim reason Aussies are being rejected for jobs: 'Scared and frustrated'
A Brisbane woman has been struggling to find work for more than a year despite having decades of experience under her belt. Job seekers over the age of 50 are being increasingly overlooked, new research has found, despite current skills shortages. Fiona Cootes has worked in events management for more than 20 years, has built events and led teams, but has found herself rejected from dozens of jobs. The 58-year-old mum of three told Yahoo Finance she has been looking for work since June last year, when her previous government contract role came to an end. 'I've only had one interview this year and as time goes on and on and on, I'm just going, am I still employable? I'm only 58 and retirement is 67,' she said. RELATED Work from home warning after Aussie dad's request denied in new ruling Centrelink's 'balancing' move could provide cash boost or expose debt Common neighbour problem plaguing Aussie houses 'I've got so much to offer and I'm very passionate, energetic, positive and I'm just wanting to add value to an organisation. 'And just constantly getting nothing back from any of the applications is just soul-destroying. I don't want to feel like I'm redundant, and I've never felt old in my life, but now I'm feeling as though I'm old and not wanted.' Cootes said she had all the relevant qualifications for the events roles she has applied for, but she's been unable to get her foot in the door. She has had four interviews for jobs over the last year, with one employer telling her she missed out on the role because another candidate was a 'better culture fit'. Cootes said she has had to dig into savings meant for her retirement and may have to work for longer than initially expected when she does find a job to make up for lost savings. She said she hadn't planned to retire until she was 65. 'I'm starting to feel scared and frustrated to think that I might be unemployable, and it's heartbreaking because I have so much to offer, I've got so much passion, I've got so much to contribute,' she said. 'It's just soul-destroying, and it's hard to stay hopeful.'Employers sidelining older and younger workers in troubling shift New research from the Australian Human Resources Institute and Australian Human Rights Commission found nearly one in four HR professionals classified workers aged 51 to 55 as 'old', which is well before Australia's retirement age of 67. This marked a sharp increase from 10 per cent in 2023. Despite 55 per cent of organisations reporting 'hard-to-fill' vacancies, just 56 per cent said they were open to hiring workers aged 50 to 64 'to a large extent'. This dropped to 28 per cent of those 65 and over, with 18 per cent saying they wouldn't hire this age group at all. About 28 per cent said a barrier to hiring older workers was that they had 'too much' experience. Australian HR Institute CEO Sarah McCann-Bartlett said the findings pointed to an evolving perception of age in the workplace. 'In particular, the age at which employers begin to classify workers as 'older' appears to be shifting downwards,' she said. 'This is important as it suggests that more workers could be impacted by the implicit bias shown against older workers by some employers.' On the flipside, the research also found employers were hesitant to hire younger workers, with just 41 per cent open to recruiting jobseekers aged 15 to 25 'to a large extent'. Older and younger workers can be 'real advantage for businesses' Robert Fitzgerald AM, Age Discrimination Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, said the findings highlighted the need for sustained action against ageism. 'Older and younger workers can be a real advantage for businesses. Age-diverse teams bring different life experiences to the table and are better at solving problems,' he said. Cootes said she plans to continue applying for jobs and has received advice on her CV. She now only includes the last 10 years of her employment history, and she has made tweaks to make her appear younger on paper. Cootes has urged employers to recognise the value older workers bring to the workforce. 'We're a pot of gold. We might not be early in our careers, but we're still in our career. We have passion, we have purpose, we are capable, we've got life skills, we've got life stories and we want to contribute,' she said. 'Don't forget about us. Don't overlook us. We're not done.'Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Elon Musk spent months slashing federal contracts — Now his AI company is celebrating a $200M Pentagon contract and new unit to get government business
Elon Musk's xAI has signed an important new customer: the U.S. government. The two-year old AI company—most recently in the news when its chatbot praised Hitler—said in a blog post Monday that it has launched a new division, called 'Grok with Government' and signed a contract worth up to $200 million with the Department of Defense. xAI also announced that it had been added to the General Services Administration schedule, meaning that xAI products will now be available for purchase across every government office and agency. xAI's new DoD contract is part of a new effort to develop AI agent workflows across a 'variety of mission areas,' the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office said in a press release, without giving many more specifics. Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic were also awarded up to $200 million contracts as part of the new effort, according to the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office. A number of tech companies, including Meta, Amazon, and Google, have either started working with or upped their work with the U.S. government in the last year as the taboo in Silicon Valley of working with the Defense Department has fallen away. xAI's new ties with the Pentagon are likely to raise eyebrows, not least because just one week earlier, the company released an update to its Grok AI model that caused it to spew racist comments, including referring to itself as a 'MechaHitler.' There's also the fact that xAI's CEO, Musk, has spent the last six months trying to trim 'wasteful spending' in the government via the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). DOGE claims to have saved $190 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars by July—in large part via cutting government contracts it said were outdated or wasteful (DOGE reportedly hasn't provided documentation or evidence for 40% of those cuts, and investigations and analysis into the cuts have suggested that these figures have been greatly exaggerated.) Now, xAI is vying to get the U.S. government to add many more contracts that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Another twist is that the Grok announcement comes at a time when existing government contracts at Musk's various companies appear to be on thin ice. In June, amid the very-public social media spat between Musk and Trump that began with Musk's criticisms of Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill,' Trump threatened to cut all of Musk's government contracts across his various companies. Musk, in turn, had suggested he would decommission SpaceX's Dragon capsule, currently the primary way for NASA to shuttle astronauts to the International Space Station and back to Earth. Musk's companies have notched more than $38 billion in contracts with the U.S. government over the years. xAI says that it wants to start servicing federal, local, state, and national security customers, and that, for these customers, it would start to build custom models for national security or 'critical science' applications that would be available in 'classified and other restricted environments' and that it would provide specific engineering support with USG-cleared engineers. While Musk is no longer working with DOGE, he remains well-connected in some government circles. One of his allies within the Trump Administration was Katie Miller, who had served as Mike Pence's press secretary when he was vice president during Trump's first presidency. Miller is also the wife of Stephen Miller, Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy, and she has since started working for xAI since Musk left DOGE. On Monday, Miller was promoting xAI's new government plans on her social media account, saying that Grok was the 'only truth-seeking AI available to the US Government.' xAI and the Department of Defense did not respond to requests for comment. GSA said it was working with 'several' AI solutions across various agencies and that it welcomes 'all American companies and models who abide by our terms and conditions.' This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pentagon announces new contract with Musk's Grok AI just a week after its anti-Semitic turn
The Department of Defense said it would begin using Grok, the artificial intelligence bot created by Elon Musk, after awarding the tech billionaire's ai company a $200 million contract. In an announcement, Musk's company xAI said it was releasing 'Grok for Government,' a form of the AI bot that allows federal, state, and local governments to utilize it for their specific needs. The announcement arrives just a week after Grok was highly criticized for making antisemitic statements in responses on X. This is a breaking news story, more follows…
ABC News
13-07-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Liquidator probes transfer of Queensland government funds to bank account of Cryptoloc Holdings founder Jamie Wilson
Liquidators are probing how money for a $15 million Queensland government project was transferred from the contract-winning cybersecurity company to its founder's bank account within 24 hours of the funds arriving. The funds transfer to Cryptoloc Holdings founder Jamie Wilson, who once wooed the state's top politicians and pop stars, is under investigation as a potential "fraudulent" transaction, according to a liquidator's report. The move is the latest shock from a disastrous cybersecurity tender won just before last year's state election by Cryptoloc Holdings. The government contract dissolved within months and the state has pursued $1.5 million paid in an initial sum. The ABC can also reveal Mr Wilson has just filed for personal bankruptcy. He declared having repaid $1 million to a family member in the months before his company failed, but only having $120 in cash on him now. Mr Wilson's entities donated more than $320,000 to both sides of politics over four years. He was a networker who was repeatedly nominated for the LNP Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner's businessperson of the year award and scored face time with then-Labor deputy premier Steven Miles. The 45-year-old accountant turned tech entrepreneur rubbed shoulders with celebrities, including pop star Ronan Keating at company-sponsored parties and appeared on video podcasts with influencers. His Cryptoloc Holdings won a tender last September to provide a $15 million cybersecurity program, hailed by the then-Labor government as helping "protect Queensland's small businesses". But after an ABC investigation in November uncovered financial problems, the state government alleged it could not get sufficient answers from Cryptoloc Holdings and tipped it into liquidation. Now liquidator Nick Combis of Vincents has zeroed in on the state funds. Cryptoloc Holdings "never had any assets of significance until the funds it received … from the Queensland state government", his report said. Creditors seek $2.4 million, including $1.51 million for the state and $44,000 for a subcontractor. "My investigations have revealed several uncommercial transactions, including the removal of funds from the company's bank account and paid directly to the director's bank account within twenty-four hours of funds being received from the Queensland state government," Mr Combis wrote. He noted management accounts had recorded expenses last year of $1.55 million and these were "amounts transferred primarily from the company's account to the director's bank account (I have traced) which I consider to be voidable and or fraudulent transactions". Mr Combis wrote Mr Wilson has "indicated that he has no assets [to] repay the funds". Mr Wilson has not answered ABC requests for comment. But in an email filed in earlier state litigation, Mr Wilson had maintained money advanced by the government had been spent on the cybersecurity program and his company was working to "successfully deliver" the project. His own records for bankruptcy, filed last month, said he is living rent-free with family. He listed $4.6 million in debts, including $1 million owed to the Australian Taxation Office, $2.62 million to Cryptoloc Holdings, $260,000 to two businessmen and $600,000 to a family member. That family member received $1 million in October for a personal loan repayment, the filings state. They also said Mr Wilson paid former conservative politician Santo Santoro, a lobbyist for Mr Wilson's business, $150,000 in the month before state money flowed. Mr Wilson wrote that the reason for the payment was "debt collector". Mr Wilson wrote another of his failed companies, Your Digital File (Aust), owed him $1 million for a business loan. He also had $110,312 in superannuation, but only $120 in cash. The rapid contract failure has raised questions about tendering — but bureaucrats have refused to hand over more than 180 pages of related documents the ABC has sought via right to information laws. Mr Wilson's Cryptoloc Technology paid $23,040 for Labor events a few months before the contract was awarded, including a Queensland Labor Business Roundtable membership, and political lunches hosted by then-premier Steven Miles and Energy Minister Mick de Brenni. A Queensland Labor spokesman said Cryptoloc donations did not influence the tender process, which the department ran independently. Neither Mr Miles, Mr de Brenni or then small business minister Lance McCallum, who announced Cryptoloc's win in September, intervened in the tenders, the spokesman said. A spokesman for Steve Minnikin, minister for customer services and open data in the new LNP administration, said an audit underway into the cybersecurity tender "aims to identify potential process improvements".
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Google to discount cloud computing services for US government, FT reports
(Reuters) -Google will heavily discount cloud computing services for the U.S. government in a deal that could be finalised within weeks, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing a senior official at the General Services Administration (GSA). Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Sign in to access your portfolio
