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Winners and Losers for ICT in Federal Budget

by Staff Writers, Mon 19 May 2008

As expected, there were a range of cuts announced in the Federal budget that will impact Federal ICT spending. There were also a number of announcements that will result in new spending, including extra spending in Defence and Centerlink.

Some of the announcements in the 2008-08 budget that will clearly impact Federal ICT spending:...

Centrelink CEO Resigns

by Staff Writers, Mon 19 May 2008

Minister for Human Services, Senator Joe Ludwig last week announced the resignation of Centrelink CEO Jeff Whalan. After 3.5 years in the role, Jeff Whalan leaves at a time of change for the agency.

Jeff Whalan was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Centrelink in December 2004. He has been a Senior Executive in the Australian and State governments since 1990. He will depart next month...

Guidelines on Reporting of Privacy Breaches

by Staff Writers, Mon 12 May 2008

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has released draft guidelines on how companies and governments should report breaches of privacy involving customer data. The Commissioner is seeking comments (by 16 June) on the draft Voluntary Information Security Breach Notification Guide...

Telstra wins $162m deal at Defence

by Staff Writers, Mon 12 May 2008

Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement, Greg Combet, last week announced the Department of Defence had signed a $162 million contract making Telstra sole supplier for voice telecommunication services.

The six-year contract covers mobile phones, fixed line voice, fixed line data and broadband services provided by the Chief Information Officer Group to Defence users. Telstra will also supply helpdesk facilities.

This is the first time Defence has awarded all telecommunications to a single supplier since the opening up of the telecommunications market in 1997...

Future of Data Matching at the ATO

by Staff Writers, Mon 12 May 2008

Responding to a recent Audit report, the Australian Tax Office has indicated that it will develop a five year corporate and strategic plan for the acquisition and use of external data for data matching, and continue to review options to improve its key identity matching facility.

The report The ATO's Use of Data Matching and Analytics in Tax Administration identifies scope to improve ATO's corporate and strategic management of data matching and analytics capability. The ATO has also agreed with one of the report's recommendations to improve the integrity of key tax databases...

Review of DMO Announced

by Staff Writers, Mon 12 May 2008

A wide-ranging review of the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) has been commissioned by the Government in an attempt to achieve further savings and a more commercial focus. It has been suggested that this review is part of a move towards splitting DMO from the Defence Department.

Greg Combet, the Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement, announced that the review of Defence would be conducted by Mr David Mortimer AO. It follows some high-profile problems in Defence procurement projects...

Audit Report on Emergency Management

by Staff Writers, Mon 12 May 2008

A recent Audit report on Emergency Management Australia provides a detailed overview of the Australian emergency sector and an indication of future areas of priority...

Industry Briefing on DAFF Outsourcing Arrangement

by Staff Writers, Mon 12 May 2008

In a departure from usual practise, the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) has opted for an online industry briefing in relation to its Managed Services outsourcing.

DAFF contracted out its IT Infrastructure services to Commander in 2000, and this contract expires in June 2009. An RFT for the provision of managed Desktop, Desktop LAN, Midrange, Storage Area Network and Helpdesk services will be issued in early June 2008...

Audit Finds Agencies Not Prepared for Recruitment Challenges

by Staff Writers, Mon 12 May 2008

Despite the challenges faced by the public sector in sustaining its workforce, it seems that many agencies do not have adequate recruitment policies and procedures in place. A recent Australian National Audit Office report found that nearly half of Federal agencies don't have the policies, structures or frameworks in place to meet their workforce requirements for the next five years.

In the report, Management of Recruitment in the Australian Public Service, the ANAO estimated that the direct costs associated with APS recruitment in 2006-07 were $370 million...

Open Source and the Language of Government

by Tim Conway, Mon 5 May 2008

Nothing better illustrates the difference between the language government agencies use, and what suppliers hear, than the issue of open source software. It seems that the term "support" has a different meaning for each group.

Comments regarding the „support‟ available for open source applications have been made by a number of senior government CIOs as reported recently in the Australian IT and ZD Net...


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