Police, Health big winners in Queensland ICT budget spend
- 04 June, 2013 15:51
The Queensland Police Service (QPS) has been allocated funding for a technology refresh program in the 2013-14 budget.
Police Minister Jack Dempsey said in a statement that the decisions taken by the Campbell Newman government to reduce spending meant that there was more money to redirect into core services, including police.
“Police officers across Queensland work very hard to keep their communities safe and secure, and they deserve to have the best facilities and technology possible,” he said.
The ongoing technology refresh and improvement program has received funding of $14.5 million to maintain ICT infrastructure. In addition, $4.8 million has been set aside to support the Public Safety Network which delivers a secure fixed data network to the QPS, Department of Justice and Attorney-General.
In total, the QPS will receive $2 billion in 2013-14 for new operational equipment, capital works projects and an additional 1100 police offers across the state.
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Turning to health, budget documents indicate that $135.1 million will fund the provision of ICT equipment and software. According to budget documents, $107.5 million will be invested in ICT equipment to replace, upgrade and provide future capability to support the eHealth strategy, asset replacement program and the National Health Reform agenda.
In addition, $27.6 million will be invested in the continued state wide roll out of eHealth clinical and administrative support systems including: an integrated electronic Medical Record (ieMR) and delivering systems for results reporting, order entry, medications management, clinical notes and discharge summaries.
Additional ICT expenditures include:
- $1 million in system developments and enhancements to IT such as the Queensland Waste Data System which is run by the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection.
- In 2013-14 the Building Services Authority has capital purchases of $1.9 million to replace ageing IT systems and $0.6 million for ageing property, plant and equipment to reduce administration costs, improve customer access and turnaround times.
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