In other public sector ICT and digtal news for 11 January:

• Chris Luxon became the NZ National Party’s leader on 30 November 2021. The former CEO of Air New Zealand entered Parliament in October 2020.
• The Federal Government has allocated $170 million to overhaul the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s ageing National Automated Fingerprint Identification System. The updated system will have cloud capability, advanced latent fingerprint processing and integration with other systems.
• The NSW Government has launched IDSupport NSW, a new identity document recovery service. The service offers advice, support and counselling services to customers who have had their proof of identity credentials stolen.
• The Public Sector Union wants to decentralise government jobs into regional Tasmania to leverage the remote work experience created by the pandemic. The Union argues that Tasmania’s low real estate prices will attract a new APS workforce and provide significant cost-saving to the Government.
• In December, Stephen Dawson became Western Australia’s new Minister for Innovation and ICT due to a Cabinet reshuffle. He takes the portfolio from Don Punch, who will continue as the Minister for Disability Services, Fisheries, Seniors and Ageing, and also pick up the Small Business portfolio.
• Several digital rights organisations are urging the Federal Government to abandon its Online Privacy Bill with claims that similar bills have ‘failed comprehensively’ abroad and breached user privacy rights. The Bill will force social media sites to take ‘reasonable steps’ to verify user’s ages.
• Dominic Perrottet has announced three new portfolios, including a Science, Technology and Innovation portfolio, in a sweeping NSW Cabinet reshuffle. The 26-person Cabinet contains nine first-time Ministers. Victor Dominello retained his portfolio but has a new title as Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government.