Multi-billion dollar support packages for quantum computing and solar panels were not subject to the final ‘national interest’ framework document set up to guide the use of taxpayers’ money in the Future Made in Australia agenda. This was despite the initiatives being announced as part of the push in the lead up to the Budget,…
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The Albanese government is under fire for a slow down on reforms for ‘life event’ services after revelations it had not funded a proposal to reinvigorate the mammoth project and is shifting its responsibility out of the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA). Responsibility will be passed to Services Australia in July, which will continue the development…
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The Australian and Queensland governments’ $1 billion investment in PsiQuantum is not yet a done deal, with parties still to sign a final agreement a month after the unprecedented taxpayer-funded support package was announced. Finance department officials on Thursday revealed that contracts had not been signed and confirmed speculation that the federal government’s approach to…
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Large consulting firms have won Commonwealth contracts worth $1.13 billion so far this year as the Labor government strives to reduce reliance on the multinationals. At a Senate Estimates hearing on Thursday night, representatives from the Department of Finance revealed that contracts worth more than $1 billion have been inked with Deloitte, KPMG, PwC, EY,…
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Australia’s digital identity scheme will expand economy-wide after long-awaited legislation designed to stop the oversharing of sensitive personal information passed federal Parliament. The laws mark a major step forward for identity verification in Australia, with the system that has been a decade in the making also expected to provide new avenues for people to access…
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The Albanese government will tip another $288.1 million into its digital identity program in Tuesday’s federal Budget to run pilots and beef up infrastructure, regulation and security in a scheme which has now been funded with more than $1 billion over the past decade. As the government looks to secure passage of its amended Digital…
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The Albanese government has flagged “significant” funding for several digital and ICT projects in next week’s federal Budget, even as its targets a historic back-to-back surplus. On Monday, Finance minister Katy Gallagher said the “unavoidable spending measures” would focus on digital capability and sustainment over the forward estimates in the 2024-25 Budget. The planned investment…
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The Albanese government will shave a further $1 billion off its spending on contractors and consultants over the next four years, in a continuation of the outsourcing savings drive that began in 2022. Finance minister Katy Gallagher revealed the additional savings in a pre-Budget announcement on Sunday, bringing the planned reduction in external labour hire…
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Less than 10 private digital ID providers, including banks and payments service providers, are initially expected to be accepted into the expanded version of the federal government’s digital identity scheme. Finance minister Katy Gallagher made the comments on Tuesday, ruling out the prospect of “hundreds of regulated digital ID providers” joining the soon-to-be-legislated the Australian…
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Australia’s digital identity scheme is set to expand beyond the federal government to states and territories and the private sector after a landmark bill, first drafted more than three years ago, passed the Senate. The Digital ID Bill sailed through the upper house on Wednesday evening with the support of the Greens, the Jacqui Lambie…
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Procurement reform remains a “huge opportunity” for the federal government to better harness the power of its $70 billion annual spending on goods and services to drive specific industry and economic outcomes, according to independent ACT senator David Pocock. The government should be looking at ways to bake a ‘retained economic benefit’ into its procurement…
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Large businesses that miss gender equality targets will soon be barred from winning government work, as the Albanese government seeks to improve the equity of its suppliers and emerging industries in a new national gender equality strategy. The ‘Working for Women’ strategy was released by Minister for Women and for Finance Katy Gallagher at the…
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Two of Canberra’s biggest federal government agencies are sitting out a six-month trial of Microsoft Copilot while another 7,400-plus public servants put the generative artificial intelligence assistant through its paces. Services Australia and the Department of Defence, which together employ more than 130,000 Australian Public Sector (APS) staff, have both passed up the trial that…
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Commonwealth statutory declarations can now be witnessed on myGov using the federal government’s digital identity system, removing the need for Australians to visit a Justice of the Peace. Finance minister Katy Gallagher, Government Services minister Bill Shorten and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced the arrival of end-to-end digital witnessing on Monday, giving individuals and businesses the…
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Australia has placed fifth out of 38 countries in a global ranking of digital governments, placing above Estonia and snapping at the heels of other advanced economies like Norway and the United Kingdom. It is the first time Australia has ranked on the list produced by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), having been…
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The Albanese government has scrapped the Coalition’s lofty goal of Australia becoming one of the top three digital government in the world by 2025 in its first digital and data strategy. It comes just months after Finance minister Katy Gallagher warned the federal government was unlikely to realise the vision without significantly more investment in…
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The Albanese government has scrapped the Coalition’s lofty goal of Australia becoming one of the top three digital government in the world by 2025 in its first digital and data strategy. It comes just months after Finance minister Katy Gallagher warned the federal government was unlikely to realise the vision without significantly more investment in…
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The Albanese government has agreed to keep the myGov platform as its digital front door for services but won’t completely accept expert recommendations to protect it in legislation and introduce new funding models. On Monday, Government Services minister Bill Shorten revealed the government’s long-awaited response to an independent audit of the myGov platform completed in…
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The Albanese government has agreed to keep the myGov platform as its digital front door for services but won’t completely accept expert recommendations to protect it in legislation and introduce new funding models. On Monday, Government Services minister Bill Shorten revealed the government’s long-awaited response to an independent audit of the myGov platform completed in…
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Government agencies will need to align their digital strategies and future investment with a new whole-of-government plan that introduces a mission-based approach, hard metrics on success and a stronger emphasis on in-house capability. The Data and Digital Government Strategy to be launched by Finance and Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher on Friday sets out a…
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The Research and Development Tax Incentive is expected to cost an additional $2.1 billion over the next four years in part due to growing artificial intelligence claims, according to new estimates from the federal government. The estimate, contained in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), is more than double what was forecast in the…
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Private sector consultants turned public servants will lead the Albanese government’s new in-house consultancy, which was swamped with almost 1000 applications for less than 20 roles. The top job of chief consulting officer has gone to Andrew Nipe, a former McKinsey and Bain consultant who spent the last decade in the Victorian Public Service, most…
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Legislation introduced on Thursday by the government will regulate and expand its digital identity scheme, including allowing the states and private sector to participate, while another $145.5 million in funding has been committed. After nearly a decade of work in Canberra and more than $780 million now committed, the new bills would add guardrails to…
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The federal government has abandoned its massive enterprise resource planning system consolidation project known as GovERP in favour of a new approach that promises greater autonomy for agencies. The move effectively ends SAP lock-in for around 100 agencies that were scheduled to transition to the single across-government platform, with Services Australia the only confirmed agency…
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Australians are struggling to understand the “concept” of the upcoming national Digital ID system, government commissioned research has found, confirming a key concern about the roll out of the complex system. Now eight years and $600 million in the making, the government’s Digital ID system intends to reduce the sharing of sensitive data by allowing…
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Less than a third of technology projects submitted for review by the federal government’s digital investment cop last financial year were closely enough aligned with Cabinet approved policies and standards for approval, new data shows. Agencies are also not always submitting proposals to the Digital Transformation Agency in a timely fashion, with 30 per cent…
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The Albanese government’s in-house consultancy is up and running, with a dozen public servants now advising agencies on foreign affairs and the net zero economy in two short, sharp projects. Rapid capability building is the focus after years of rampant outsourcing, including a reliance on private consultants that critics say have a commercial incentive to…
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Any use of artificial intelligence by government must demonstrate integrity, competence, and empathy while delivering a clear improvement in public services, according to new long-term guidance released by Finance Minister Katy Gallagher. Aimed at policy makers and government service providers, a new briefing developed in-house touts AI as a transformative technology that can help government…
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Consultants and contractors will be banned from performing “core” government work like drafting regulation and leading policy development under new rules from the Albanese government released on Tuesday. Outsourcing will be progressively restricted to defined circumstances and knowledge must be transferred to the Australian Public Service (APS), according to a new Strategic Commissioning Framework. The…
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Experts in service delivery, verification, privacy and inclusion have been brought in to guide the expansion of Australia’s digital ID program, now in its eighth year with more than $600 million spent. Former NSW Digital Government minister Victor Dominello is chairing a new Ministerial Digital ID Expert Panel to provide independent advice on the project,…
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