In other public sector ICT and digital news for the 21st of June
- ACT Minister Chris Steele has intervened in a controversy at the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) over vaguely worded consultancy contracts, asking the board to suspend a $5 million agreement, pending a review of procurement procedures.
- The Australian Public Service Commission has launched a new ‘temporary jobs’ board on APSJobs to advertise short term vacancies (secondments, temporary transfers or micro-assignments) to current Commonwealth employees.
- The NSW Auditor General has released a performance audit on the Department of Planning and Environment’s (DPE) ePlanning portal, which began in 2013, and is now mandatory for all Development Applications (DAs). It concludes that initial plans for the platform were poor (but are now on track), risks were not well managed, and the benefits have been overstated.
- Queensland is conducting a review of its Public Records Act, to recommend changes to reflect contemporary recordkeeping practices, digital technologies and community expectations.
- An investigation by consumer group CHOICE into the use of facial recognition cameras at several local retailers has highlighted the slow pace (more than two years) of an offical review of Australian privacy laws.
International News
- UK has released details of draft legislation for a new Data Reform Bill to “increase financial penalties for those pestering people with nuisance calls and minimise number of annoying cookie pop-ups people see on the internet.”
- Also in the UK, the government has also published the Terms of References for a review of the country’s computing capability over the next decade, with the odd title ‘Future Compute review’.
- … and the UK launched its annual civil service data challenge, seeking ideas on how the government can make better use of data.
- US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo has warned bankers to work with the federal government to combat elevated cyber threats in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- 23,000 Singaporean public servants will receive pay rises of between 5 and 14 per cent from 1 August, as the city state competes for talent.