Stories by Michael Crawford

Introduction of a national ID card could cost the economy up to $15 billion, according to the latest estimates from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI).

Victorian Information and Communication Technology Minister Marsha Thomson launched a five-year plan for the Victorian ICT industry yesterday that includes $1 million to grow local ICT clusters and a further $1.9 million for industry skills packages.

Victoria will become the first Australian state to allow contractors to retain ownership of intellectual property (IP), replacing uncapped liability with an evaluated approach.

Just a few months after he got the state's ICT industry offside, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has announced a national summit to focus on skills challenges facing the ICT industry to be held there early next year.

Two men have been charged in relation to the alleged hacking of one of Australia's most prominent economics consultancies, Access Economics.

The always-on employee working for the 24x7 company is slowly learning to despise the concept of mobility and working from home, according to a Sensis survey released this week.

Australia's most prominent government CIOs and IT ministers will add their expertise to an open panel debate on the most critical issues facing the IT industry later this month.

Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott has warned e-health vendors and systems designers eyeing off federal coffers that their products must deliver tangible economic benefits over technological improvements if they expect to get government funding for e-Health.

The federal government is only weeks away from formalizing data standards for Australia's national electronic health record system.

Roles and responsibilities in the Australian IT security landscape are in confusion following the formation of yet another official IT security organisation.

Health Minister Tony Abbott's ambitious plan to have an electronic health record system operational is highly unlikely to meet a 12 month timeframe according to Dr David More, adjunct professor of Health Informatics at the University of Canberra.

Home-grown Australian software has notched up another win, with the Mildura Rural City Council (MRCC) selecting Australian-owned software vendor Merit to provide its CRM software package.

A series of meetings between ICT industry heavyweights and the Queensland government is well under way as local companies battle it out to secure a bigger slice of the public sector procurement pie.

Government inaction on on the implementation of a national electronic records system continues to frustrate IT health suppliers.

The Australian Privacy Federation has lambasted the NSW Workplace Surveillance Bill, stating that it merely creates a headache for employers and workers and the NSW Attorney General has not kept a promise to protect workers' privacy.