Federal government chief information officer Ann Steward said most of the budget funds would be spent on applications development, as more than 15 agencies benefited.
The allocation includes $466.8 million over two years to establish a personally controlled e-health records infrastructure.
The government's push to simplify the taxation system will result in $70m being spent on technology projects at the Australian Taxation Office.
"It's good news for both agencies and the ICT industry . . . there's more than a billion dollars in this budget again, across about 15 or more portfolios for ICT," Ms Steward said.
"It shows continuing support for what agencies need to do and the importance of ICT to government programs.
"When we look at the towers of technology and where the funding will be spent, there's a lot that will be in the applications development area, and other areas such as storage and security."
As foreshadowed in The Australian last week, Terry Moran's public service reforms will create opportunities for IT companies.
Mr Moran, secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, led the Ahead of the Game report, which made 28 recommendations on improving service delivery.
"There's a lot of IT work in Ahead of the Game. Technology, especially the internet, will be used increasingly to address the needs of citizens . . . there will be a strong focus on enhancing the australia.gov.au website," said Ms Steward, who is also the Australian Government Information Management Office deputy secretary.
"There will also be a fair bit of work in the government 2.0 space and additional guidance to agencies on how to use such tools effectively."
The internet's importance as a communications medium between government and citizens is on the rise.
In a government survey last year, 45 per cent of respondents said their preferred method of interaction with agencies was the internet. Five years ago, the web was only 31 per cent, and face-to-face engagement was the most popular method at 33 per cent.
The Moran report outlined many ways the internet could be used to simplify government services, including allowing agencies to reuse and share existing data (where permitted), provide more pre-filled online forms, allow citizens to register once -- by single sign-on -- for myriad services, and accommodating the different ways citizens prefer to be contacted.
Another big budget expenditure area, and one that threw up the most challenges, was ICT skills and workforce planning, Ms Steward said. The government would continue to look for people with skill sets in security, web-based technologies and project management.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Fran Foo
Quelle/Source: Australian IT, 18.05.2010
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