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Source: Gordon Rich-Phillips - Assistant Treasurer
The Victorian Coalition Government has started work on a whole of government information and communication technology (ICT) strategy to rectify Labor’s disastrous ICT legacy.
Assistant Treasurer Gordon Rich-Phillips said he had established the Victorian Information and Communications Technology Advisory Committee (VICTAC) earlier this month to provide advice on the development of the strategy.
“The previous Labor Government adopted a piecemeal approach to ICT that saw at least $1.44 billion of taxpayers’ money wasted in cost blowouts on projects like HealthSMART, myki and the LEAP database,” Mr Rich-Phillips said.
“The money that Labor frittered away by mismanaging ICT projects could have funded the development of vital infrastructure like schools, hospitals and roads.”
In a report tabled in Parliament yesterday, the Auditor-General found that whole of government frameworks have not kept pace with the increasingly central role of ICT in service delivery.
“The whole of government ICT strategy we are developing will help to align processes across departments and set the clear lines of governance, accountability and direction that were clearly absent under Labor,” Mr Rich-Phillips said.
“The strategy will focus on delivering better services, reducing waste, encouraging innovation and improving ICT procurement across government.
“We have also established high value, high risk guidelines to improve the scrutiny of all ICT projects and we are overhauling the way government procures ICT services.
“These changes will help prevent the major cost blowouts and bungles in ICT that became such a trademark when Daniel Andrews was in government,” Mr Rich-Phillips said.
Mr Rich-Phillips said VICTAC, which includes both industry and government representatives, was being chaired by former South Australian Chief Information Officer Grantly Mailes.
“The committee will provide a practical, forward-looking approach to the development and use of ICT by government,” Mr Rich-Phillips said.
Media contact: Stephanie Ryan 0488 441 820 stephanie.ryan@minstaff.vic.gov.au
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