IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Rolling out a state-wide electronic health record system is no mean feat for the CIO of SA Health, David Johnston. The government organisation last month switched on enterprise patient administration system (EPAS) that is set to transform 12 hospitals across South Australia.

“This would be the largest IT-enabled project that the state has ever undertaken,” Johnston told CIO Australia. “It’s a significant initiative because it means that if it works here then it’s completely applicable to other states or countries, other jurisdictions.

Dr Sandra Haukka, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), said seniors, particularly pensioners, risked being left behind as businesses and governments shifted more services to the web.

"With the government and private sector spending billions on the National Broadband Network, we have to make sure that the internet can be used by all those who need it the most," she said.

During the initial wave of digital-transformation efforts, Australia developed an international reputation as an early leader. That peaked in around 1999.

While the different tiers of government (local, state and federal) and individual agencies have developed some impressive e-government platforms, a joined-up approach to e-government has so far remained elusive.

Before smart cities are built and citizens are 'Uberised', a trust framework for data sharing needs to be established in Australia, according to the non-profit body representing IoT in Australia.

Issues around technical standards, data sharing, and application interoperability require the government's attention if Australia wants to effectively grow smart infrastructure and smart cities using the Internet of Things (IoT), according to not-for-profit body IoT Alliance Australia (IoTAA).

Mobile health can be an effective tool to address Australia’s healthcare challenges, however, adoption is fraught with obstacles and continues to be skewed towards consumer ended offerings, research analyst firm Frost & Sullivan said in a report.

A key issue is access to timely and, which it says can potentially be addressed by enhancing and improving communication between providers and patients using mobile health (mHealth).

Does the ICT skills shortage exist? As is so often the case, answers to that question tend to start with “it all depends what you mean by …”

“There is an ongoing strong demand for ICT skills across many industry verticals. The NBN and high-speed broadband applications, mobility convergence, e-health, e-security and other initiatives continue to drive demand for ICT skills,” said Alan Patterson, CEO of the Australian Computer Society.

The Business Council of Australia (BCA) said implementation of a national e-health strategy would provide benefits worth 28 billion Australian dollars (26 billion U.S. dollars) in the first eight years.

Making e-health efficient will require both private and public investment, the group argued.

“We are pleased to see that the Coalition has now publicly released its policy and announced the need for immediate action to address Australia’s recent and alarming deterioration in global rankings with regard to our digital competitiveness and innovation,” said Peter Lee, CEO of the IIA.

Australia has thrown its support behind the smart city development in Preah Sihanouk. This statement was made on a Facebook post of the Australian Embassy on June 30.

In the recent “Smart City Initiative Prioritisation Workshop” organized by Australia’s flagship AU$ 49 million Investing in Infrastructure (3i) programme, with the Preah Sihanouk provincial administration, the Second Secretary of the Australian Embassy, Mr. Anthony Samson, said, “The smart city project selection is a crucial step in our smart city cooperation, as well as in Australia’s efforts

Customers can use the ‘QuickPay Station’ to new vehicle registrations and driver licenses online. The kiosk aims to help citizens who do not have easy access to phone or the internet at home. According to a publication by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, only 79 per cent of the households in Northern Territory had access to the internet at home in 2010-11 (compared to 93 per cent for the entire country).

KT will build a smart community in Australia in cooperation with a local partner and Seoul National University using its information technology, Korea's No. 2 mobile carrier announced, Sunday.

The telecommunication firm said it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Seoul National University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Australia's Smart Community Consortium (SSC) at KT's headquarters in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, Thursday.

The cities were recognised in the World Smart City Expo event that took place in Korea, which attracts more than 20,000 visitors from 60 countries and 200 cities.

The Australian City of Greater Geelong and the Spanish city of Barcelona have been jointly crowned smart city of the year at the World Smart City Expo in Korea, which took place last week.

Goyang Special City, Daegu Metropolitan City, Busan, Bucheon, Incheon Free Economic Zine Authority, Incheon Metropolitan City and the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province were featured in the Korean smart city winners’ showcas

The Government of New South Wales is moving towards managing the cost of running ICT infrastructure while delivering agency-wide savings.

Chris Bowen, the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, announced today that a digital photograph and fingerprint scans will be collected from everyone applying for a protection visa within Australia.

"This initiative will assist in establishing the identity of protection visa applicants who arrive in Australia but are often unable to provide sufficient documentation to prove their identity, and strengthen our ability to detect inconsistent immigration claims," he said.

Health Vault, which is a cloud based service, is being offered to patients by some clinics such as the Virginia Mason Clinic in Seattle and Denver Health in the US. It allows patients to use the cloud to store and access their health related information – and also allow their medical providers access to the content.