The NSW Government has sought to lay claim to being Australia’s leading ICT state with the launch of a new ICT Governance framework.
The framework, launched by NSW Minister for Finance and Services, Greg Pearce, comes amid stiff competition from rival technology states Queensland and Victoria.
According to Pearce, the government will provide a raft of new initiatives including a whole-of-government approach to ICT and closer collaboration with industry.
In a statement Pearce said the government had established a new ICT Board, consisting of the Director Generals of key Government agencies and chaired by the Director General of the Department of Finance & Services, to lead the ICT reform agenda.
“The board will be responsible for setting NSW ICT priorities, monitoring major NSW ICT Government projects and providing high level visibility of agency compliance with agreed objectives and targets,” he said.
“The Board’s first task will be the development of the NSW Government ICT strategy.
Pearce said the board would be supported by an ICT Advisory Panel and an ICT Leadership Group whose roles will be to bring both private sector experience and Government operational knowledge to decision making and ICT implementation.
“The ICT Advisory Panel will consist of industry experts ensuring that prevailing and emerging technologies are effectively aligned with agency and whole of government objectives,” he said. “The Panel’s independent chair will report to the ICT Board.
“The ICT Leadership Group will comprise of a Chief Information Officer and a Deputy Director General to represent each of the nine cluster agencies and will be tasked with translating the ICT strategy and implementation plan into outcomes across Government.
The plan is likely to go some way toward clawing back ICT investment to NSW from the arguable leader, Victoria, which has a clear head start. In July 2010 the state appeared to be cementing its status as the “IT hub of Australia”, with a number of announcements promising to create hundreds of IT jobs.
A few months later the Victorian Government announced its $110 million ICT action plan which included the creation of 160 new highly skilled research jobs at the National Information and Communications Technology Australia (NICTA).
Many data centre providers are also calling the state home with Polaris in April stating its intention to open a $200 million Victorian data centre and NextDC stating in March that it was on track to launch Brisbane- and Melbourne-based data centre facilities.
Queensland also has a head start with the July 2010 restructuring of the Queensland Government Chief Information Office (QGCIO) carried out in response to the launch of the Toward Q2 though ICT; a five-year strategy outlining the Queensland Government’s new information and communication technology priorities and targets.
Many games developers are also increasingly calling the state home.
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