IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

New developments driven by IoT and M2M - cities leading the chargeSmart Societies based on Big Data.

M2M (machine-to-machine) and IoT (Internet of Things) linked to data analytics (big data) developments are accelerating, and as more companies enter this sector and spend money on developing it, we will see further astonishing innovations emerge over the next few years. Applications are already being used in infrastructure, telecommunications, healthcare, education as well as in government; we will address this in detail in this report.

Rudd announced the establishment of the NBN, admitting that Australian broadband is lagging and that a superfast national network is the only way to "turbo-charge Australia's economic future." The country will invest $30 billion USD over the next eight years for broadband infrastructure.

Australia's first pop-up embassy, where an ambassador is present on a short-term basis as needed rather than full time, was opened in the Estonian capital of Tallinn on Monday.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Sven Mikser (SDE) and Australian Ambassador to Estonia Kerin Ann Burns Ayyalaraju attended the opening, while Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop joined th event via Skype, according to a ministry press release.

It is important to develop a skills policy and a skilled professional workforce that can adapt to the global economy.

Not enough has been done to prepare our nation for the digital age. It's nearly three years since the ACS released its "ICT Skills Forecasting Report", which estimated that Australia would face a shortfall of more than 25,000 hi-tech workers by 2020.

Everything will be computerized, said people known to the matter. In order to build the 96-bed private hospital, $87.5 million will be spent. The hospital has been built by UnitingCare Health, which also runs many other hospitals, like Wesley Hospital.

The man heading up Australia's digital government transformation talks to Computer Weekly about the progress his department has made in its first year

They may be small capabilities in the morass that is Australia’s government IT, but the beta releases of several core e-government services in March and April 2016 will mark an important milestone for Paul Shetler, the man hand-picked by the country’s prime minister to drag its public service IT into the digitally focused 21st century.

Australia’s Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) is to undertake a review of the government’s biggest technology projects.

A newly-created Digital Investment Management Office within the DTA has been handed the brief to carry out the review, which is part of an effort by the Commonwealth government to get a handle on its AU$6.2bn (UK£3.8bn or US$4.8bn) annual ICT spend.

FutureGov spoke to Professor John McMillan, Australian Information Commissioner, on how the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) is leveraging Big Data and promoting open government, to bring new opportunities to Government information management.

But you still can’t use a credit card to tap on public transport there.

Extensive investment in digital healthcare, transport, monitoring and other infrastructure has made Melbourne one of the world’s most digitally dependent cities, a new analysis has found even as Victoria’s government deals with yet another problem with its Myki digital ticketing system.

Melbourne ranked 12th in the ZeroBounce ranking, which scores cities based on nine digital infrastructure categories that includes internet speed, public Wi-Fi availability, online maintenance reporting systems, CCTV coverage, smart parking solutions and pollution monitoring.

Australia’s new e-government portal, currently in beta, has proven easy for users to understand, but its design is controversial, according to user feedback released this week.

“People are mostly happy with the ease of finding things and the prioritisation of information, but… the design is a bit polarising with many disliking it,” a new blog on the website revealed.

Australia’s digital competitiveness is in decline, dropping five places to 20th in a ranking of 64 countries, with its key weaknesses being business agility along with digital skills and training.

It is the third year in a row that Australia has fallen in the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking (WDCR) rankings with only Poland and Bulgaria falling harder.

GovCMS hosting plans range from US$8097 to US$108,003, with larger packages available on request.

Australia has made a web site hosting platform, govCMS, available to all agencies, John Sheridan, Government Chief Technology Officer announced.

“The release of the govCMS website today marks the availability of govCMS to all government entities to create and manage cost effective websites, based on best practice, that are compliant with Australian Government standards,” Sheridan wrote in a blog post.

According to the agency, there appears to be virtually limitless opportunities for organised crime to “go virtual”.

John Lawler, Chief Executive of ACC, told FutureGov Asia Pacific that while the cloud offers numerous benefits, there are “significant vulnerabilities” with the technology that could lead to exploitation by organised crime.

"Businesses are realising this system saves them time and money and a third of all Victorian traders have switched to the new on-line service," Lenders said. "The online service is simple and means no travelling, no queues and no extra paperwork."

The ACT Government is trialling a new health information portal designed to deliver personal health information to consumers securely.

Health minister Katy Gallagher launched the 'My eHealth' portal this week with a pilot group of consumers from the Health Care Consumers Association and 40 chronic care patients.

One of three Australian finalists in Smart Cities Awards.

As aspirant towns and cities explore what it takes to be a ‘smart city’, a tech-heavy new ACT suburb has secured a spot as an APAC awards finalist after documenting its smart-city best practices in a repeatable blueprint it will offer to any local government.

Authored by the developers of the PEET/Mirvac-backed Googong development – which will eventually have 18,000 residents in 6500 homes just 16km from Parliament House – the open-source Smart Suburb Blueprint was developed over 18 months at a cost of $2.4m, including a $1.1m federal grant.

Over the past year, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government has begun efforts to restructure the ACT Public Services (ACTPS) into a single ‘one-government’ organisation. The government has also launched several initiatives in open government and shared services. Mick Chisnall’s talks to FutureGov about the reorganisation and the new services being launched.

Across Australia, state capitals and large cities are undergoing a transformation towards a smart city model. Smart cities aim to be more sustainable, make citizens’ lives easier and safer, and use resources more efficiently.

In Sydney, the multi-billion dollar metro project recently saw the delivery of 22 automated and driverless metro trains alongside eight new stations. Further north in Queensland, the Cairns Regional Council has installed a network of smart environmental sensors that measure and track high nutrient, sediment, and chemical traces in urban waterways. The smart sensors for part of the Reducing Urban Impacts on the Great Barrier Reef project, which aims to right some of the wrongs the marine Park has suffered in the last few decades.

The City of Greater Geelong’s smart city strategic framework is based on seven principles that have been shaped by the community engagement process.

The City of Greater Geelong Council in Victoria, Australia, has adopted a smart city strategic framework to harness emerging technology in a bid to improve liveability for citizens.

“By providing a consolidated, single-point-of-truth to our data, our staff will be able to make better decisions,” said Dale Dickson, CEO of Gold Coast City Council.

“For example, when all the planned changes are fully implemented, work orders will be able to be assigned based on proximity to avoid unnecessary driving time for work crews.