It is still unclear how many jobs will be lost from research body National ICT Australia (NICTA) or what funding will be made available to the new entity that has been established to absorb its work.

Minister for Industry Ian Macfarlane and Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull issued a joint statement late last week announcing that NICTA would merge with the CSIRO's Digital Productivity flagship to form Data61, which will be led by technology entrepreneur Adrian Turner (pictured).