The total costs of natural disasters in Australia are forecast to more than double in real terms to $39 billion per year by 2050, according to the latest annual report by the Australian Business Roundtable for Disaster Resilience and Safer Communities. The report, ‘Building Resilience to Natural Disasters in our States and Territories’, was prepared […]
27 November, 2017
South Australia will launch its own Royal Commission into the allocation of water under the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement. The moves follows a number of damning reports on allegations of water theft and mismanagement, and what the South Australian Government regards as a coverup by the Federal and NSW Government. The issue has been brewing for […]
26 November, 2017
Australia faces at least six more months without a national energy policy. The meeting of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Energy Council deferred until April 2018 any decision on whether to adopt the Federal Government’s National Energy Guarantee (NEG) plan. The states did not sign up for the NEG, but asked for more modelling, […]
26 November, 2017
It’s nearly 20 years old – pull it down! The NSW Government will demolish two large stadiums and replace them with two large stadiums, at a cost of over $2 billion. The stadiums aren’t very old. Stadium Australia was built for the Sydney Olympics less than 20 years ago. It is now named after a […]
23 November, 2017
Cybersecurity has been the top priority for government agencies when migrating to digital services. A universal expectation from the government is that they will keep our personal and state information safe But this comes with a price. User experience has been poor and speeds and uptime have suffered. After a series of embarrassing failures, including […]
23 November, 2017
Limited working budgets and an unsuitable organisational culture are the biggest barriers to achieving digital transformation in the local government sector, says a new report. The report, from University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and sponsored by software company Civica, is based on a survey of Australia and New Zealand Local Government Authorities. It was released […]
23 November, 2017
The bad old days – or back to the future? (John Slaytor) In May 2017 NSW Education Minister Rob Stokes said that demountable classrooms in the state’s schools are here to stay. We now know what he means. The NSW Department of Education has called tenders for the “Development of a high-quality classroom model for […]
23 November, 2017
The Copyright Agency says it has been ‘pushed to the last resort’ and is suing the NSW Government over the non-payment of fees for copyrighted material being shared within and between state government agencies. The Agency is the industry body representing the copyright and licensing interests of thousands of Australian authors, publishers, photographers, and other […]
21 November, 2017
Over the last few weeks we have looked at results from the ANZ Local Government Digital Maturity Index (DMI). It is a mixed bag. The report is based on a survey of over 100 Local Government Authorities in Australia and New Zealand, which asked about about the extent to which they are digitising their internal […]
20 November, 2017
The Council of Australian Government Energy Council meets in Hobart this Friday (24 November) to try to bring some order to Australia’s fractious energy policy. It will be the first meeting held since the announcement of the Federal Government’s National Electricity Guarantee (NEG). The Government is promoting the NEG as an alternative to the Chief […]
20 November, 2017
Australia has long held a reputation for being the ‘Lucky Country’. That has largely been the case over the past 25 years. Our economy has the averted the financial crises that have plagued the USA and Europe. Most industries, with relatively high amounts of low-cost capital at their disposal, have grown steadily. But has this […]
20 November, 2017
The NSW Government will introduce free vehicle registration for the owners of private vehicles who spend more than $1300 a year on Sydney toll roads. Sydney’s growing motorway system is heavily tolled, with the revenue going to private operators to offset the price they have paid to buy and operate the infrastructure. There has been […]
20 November, 2017
Norfolk Island is ‘on the brink of disaster’, says an independent report on the island’s economic situation. The report was commissioned by the island’s small community following the Australian Government’s abolition of self-government in July 2016 and the imposition of direct rule. Norfolk Island’s 1700 residents are now subject to the same laws – and […]
20 November, 2017
Smile, you’re on body worn camera (WA Police) The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) has published a report on the effectiveness of police body-worn cameras in Australia. The report is based on interviews with 899 people detained by police across Australia. It also examines some of the existing literature on body-worn cameras (BWCs), highlighting many […]
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