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All federal public servants may be asked to carry a single chip-equipped identity card as part of moves by the government to improve service delivery and cut fraud using smartcard technology.

Speaking at the launch of the South East Asian Regional Computer Confederation (SEARCC) conference in Sydney, Special Minister of State Senator Eric Abetz said that the government was working on a number of initiatives that could involve the use of so-called "smartcards".

Canberra could become the first Australian city to provide its population with digital network access anywhere and anytime across its CBD and suburbs.

The ACT government has confirmed that it is considering a trial, being pushed by NEC, to make Canberra a "ubiquitous city".

The public service, schools, businesses, hospitals, houses, cars and shops could all be connected by a range of networks and devices under the scheme, which is still in early planning stages.

A surprising number of business, government and technology people have raised authentication and identity management with me in the past two weeks.

Perhaps it was the idea of an identity card hitting the headlines again, or maybe all the noise around e-health.

Whatever the reason, this is no short-term phenomenon: we have reached something of a critical point, as many organisations have no choice but to pull this out of the too-hard basket and take a serious stab at getting it right.

Australian e-health agency releases new interoperability guidelines.

The National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA) is a federal and state-funded body set up in July 2004. Accountable to the Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council, it works to a yearly plan as agreed by ministers, and reports to them on its deployment. Its main aim is to spearhead an electronic health record across the country along with the supporting infrastructure.

The federal government is to dramatically shake up its internal IT strategy by the end of the year and will implement an ambitious scheme of programs including identity management, tougher contracts for vendors and an IT skills program.

IT strategy minister, Special Minister of State Eric Abetz announced the 10-point plan which is intended to bring public sector IT into line with the government's ambitious fourth term agenda.