[LINK] The coalition's policy for E-Government and the Digital Economy

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

New report here:
Coalition pushes IT governance to highest office
itNews
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/355357,coalition-pushes-it-governance-to-the-highest-office.aspx

The policy (dated August 2013) is available here:
http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/assets/Coalitions_Policy_for_E-Government_and_the_Digital_Economy_(2).pdf

There is another one, dated September 2013 here.
http://lpaweb-static.s3.amazonaws.com/Coalition%27s%20Policy%20for%20E-Government%20and%20the%20Digital%20Economy.pdf

<quote>
Policy Measures

We will provide leadership on the digital economy, make more effective 
use of ICT in departments and agencies and ensure more convenient 
Government services are accessible anytime anywhere with policies to:

• accelerate the digital economy by working with the private sector to 
coordinate enabling infrastructure such as online identity, digital mail 
and payment systems;

• accelerate Government 2.0 efforts to engage online, make agencies 
transparent and provide expanded access to useful public sector data;

• reduce the cost of government ICT by eliminating duplication and 
fragmentation. Government will lead by example in using ICT to reduce 
costs, lift productivity and develop better services. Light user 
agencies with insufficient IT scale will move to shared or cloud 
solutions. Heavy user agencies with complex needs will retain autonomy 
but improve accountability;

• create a better model for achieving whole-of-government ICT goals that 
acknowledges the decentralised Australian Public Service and differences 
in scale and capabilities across agencies; and

</quote>

And, yes, the last bullet point ends with "and". It looks as though they 
removed a bullet point and forgot to reformat it. Or it might just be a 
matter of re-ordering.

A lot of the policy is same-old-same-old initiatives that have failed in 
the past. The thought of putting PM&C in a central decision making role 
is fraught with danger. If any part of government policy should be 
evidence driven it's the use of ICT. Many of the shortcomings of 
government ICT are due to a lack of understanding by politicians of what 
it takes to develop good Information Systems. These politicians set 
unrealistic deadlines and funding arrangements and then complain when IT 
departments can't deliver. Projects fail to deliver on time and in 
budget, not because of problems in deliovery, but because the estimates 
were wrong. Putting a political office in charge is likely to just make 
things worse.

And the assumption that "light user agencies with insufficient IT scale 
(can) move to shared or cloud solutions" is naive. I know, I've done the 
research.

-- 

Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Sydney Australia
email: brd at iimetro.com.au
web:   www.drbrd.com
web:   www.problemsfirst.com
Blog:  www.problemsfirst.com/blog