Public sector, councils set to collect on Andrews’ Victorian win

New pay deals likely for frontline workers, outsourcing to be limited.

5 December, 2014

Napthine snares 250 Canberra jobs from Australian Bureau of Statistics for Geelong

Deakin Uni partnership counts on cheap rent.

10 November, 2014

Defence opens new cyber security school at UNSW Canberra

The federal government has launched a new learning centre in the field of cyber security to act as a think-tank for experts to cook up ways to help organisations fight off potential threats.

16 June, 2014

Victoria to put local government performance on public parade ‘MySchool’ style with ‘My Council’

Councils in Victoria will be ranked against each other on a new website grading their performance and accountability that mirrors the federal government’s controversial ‘league table’ style website ‘MySchool’.

22 May, 2014

Rail industry stoked over Victoria’s $11 billion Melbourne Airport Rail Link pledge

Australia’s peak railway body is cheering on the Victorian government’s big Budget allocation of $14.5 billion to key rail projects that it claims will “transform the state”.

8 May, 2014

Victoria funds council war on graffiti

The Denis Napthine government reinforced its anti-graffiti grant scheme by providing up to $25,000 to local governments working on projects to scrub away unsightly tags and bombs.

2 May, 2014

Napthine pledges railway link to Melbourne airport in just time for election

Melbourne has long suffered from the lack of a heavy rail link to speed passengers and staff to Tullamarine airport. Now the Napthine government has unveiled ambitious plans to fix the infrastructure deficit in the run-up to the November election.

15 April, 2014

Melbourne CBD trams made free

The Victorian government will offer free travel on Melbourne CBD trams as a hard fought extension to light rail in Sydney finally opens.

27 March, 2014

Victoria bends to meet piped gas deadline demands

By Paul Hemsley The Victorian government has granted energy companies in the state more time to come up with bids for an $85 million tender to pipe natural gas to Murray River communities and other selected towns that were promised mains supplies during the last election campaign. The extension to providers heads-off what was threatening […]

17 December, 2013

VIC Auditor flushes out hundreds of government IT security holes

By Paul Hemsley and Julian Bajkowski A new report from the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office (VAGO) has revealed the trigger for the Napthine government’s sweeping government-wide IT security strategy overhaul after 11 government agencies were found to be highly vulnerable to potential cyber-attacks because of “inadequate” security measures. The Victoria government last week officially signed onto […]

29 November, 2013

Victoria gets serious on state cyber security

By Julian Bajkowski and Paul Hemsley Victoria has said it will become the first state to formally develop a whole-of-government Cyber Security Strategy to bolster its digital defences and keep critical online services running – a move that could soon to be replicated by other states and have a significant flow-on effects for councils and […]

21 November, 2013

Vic councils sandbag against flood levee cost shifting

By Paul Hemsley Victoria’s City of Greater Bendigo is digging in for a fight to prevent the state government from shifting responsibility for flood levee bank funding from the Catchment Management Authorities onto local governments. The council has announced is investigating the formation of a lobbying alliance with other municipalities to oppose any potential state […]

15 November, 2013

Plan Melbourne’s governance under fire

By Julian Bajkowski A controversial move by Victoria’s Napthine government to have an appointed board run a new statutory state agency tasked with helping to coordinate urban renewal so that another two million will eventually live in Melbourne has drawn a sharp and immediate response from the Victorian Local Governance Association (VLGA). The group that […]

15 October, 2013

Victoria broadens geospatial mapping data release

By Paul Hemsley The Victorian government has moved to substantially broaden its collection of ‘open data’ available to industry and software developers by making more geospatial information available that pinpoints the geographic location of the state’s natural and constructed boundaries and features. It is the latest addition to the Victorian government’s public open data website […]

23 September, 2013