Federal govt to overhaul ICT sector

from sdney morning herald

Katie Bradford

April 11, 2008

 

The federal government has announced a complete overhaul of its management of the information communications technology (ICT) sector.

Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner said the commonwealth spent about $6 billion a year on ICT and he believed the government could save hundreds of millions of US dollars.

"The arrangements we have inherited are totally decentralised, highly inefficient and wasteful," Mr Tanner told reporters in Melbourne.

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"They cost the taxpayer too much money. There are lots of opportunities to get value for money, better systems, less expenditure on bureaucracy as a result of coordinating these things better."

Mr Tanner said tens of millions of US dollars had been spent tackling problems in the Immigration Department already.

"The Howard government had a Thatcherite model of government, where they allowed government departments and agencies to do pretty much whatever they felt like," he said.

Mr Tanner said it was not just about saving money.

"We want to change the way citizens deal with government, the processes every Australian has to go through, whether it's with Centrelink, or Medicare, or the tax office, or the wide range of other processes," he said.

"We want to make those things easier and more user-friendly for Australian people."

Savings are expected to be noticed by the middle of next year.

Sir Peter Gershon has been appointed as a consultant for the review.

Sir Peter led a review of the ICT sector in the United Kingdom for the Blair government in 2003.

Mr Tanner said Sir Peter saved the British government billions of pounds a year as a result of his reforms and he was confident the same would happen in Australia.

"He is a world leader on these issues," he said.