Pros
NICTA has many talented researchers who are passionate about their work. The environment is collaborative and there's some solid work happening. NICTA has indeed made a name for itself in the research circuit and is now generally well regarded in the research community.
Cons
NICTA recently lost its federal funding. Its facing a fiscal cliff with funding coming to an end in June 2016. NICTA is working through to merge with CSIRO, and the impending merger is likely to create a bigger and better ICT research centre. However, NICTA in its current form is held back by poor quality business leaders. A majority of business teams are led by managers who would not be hired for a similar role in the industry. These business team leaders are mostly inept, unable to comprehend ideas, and unable to commercial ideas. There's much tension between research teams and business teams.