As part of its "call to arms" the ACS also announced the establishment of a National Telecommunications Special Interest Group and an alliance with the Telecommunication Society of Australia to address the critical issue of delivery of remote services. Speaking at Wireless World in Sydney, ACS communications technologies board director, Professor Reg Coutts, said infrastructure was needed to support telecommuting, video conferencing and data exchange.
Read more: Australia: ACS calls on government to make broadband a national priority
Human Services Minister Chris Ellison, who planned to introduce legislation for the card to the Senate next Thursday, last night agreed to put the plan on hold.
The decision followed the release of a report by the Senate's Finance and Public Administration Committee in which government senators joined with the Opposition to call for a delay and reconsideration of the proposals.
"I think the Government should be required to withdraw its submission and correct the document," Professor Greenleaf has told the inquiry. "It should be required to explain to the committee why it has provided such misleading information about the Bill."
Rather than dealing with the controversial public face of e-government, the NICTA group will look at improving interconnection between agencies' and departments' databases and IT systems.
"In the past 12 to 18 months we have seen an increase in the number of people that deal only with government online," Special Minister of State Gary Nairn said
Read more: Australia: Nairn outlines push for online accessibility