In other public sector ICT and digital news for the 27th of April
- The Australian Taxation Office wants to replace its mainframe before the 2024 tax period, as part of its IT Strategic Sourcing Program. The current IBM z14 mainframe, which is primarily used to access application backend data, is maintained by DXC Technology under a long-standing $2.1 billion contract for ‘centralised computing’.
- The Secretaries of Treasury and Department of Finance have released the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2022. The report informs the public on the state of the nation’s economic future and is a mandatory release prior to each Federal election. The findings report a new iniative, introduced after the 2022-23 Federal Budget, with funding of $26 million over three years for the development of new road safety technologies.
- The Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed that WA has defied the economic impacts of COVID-19, boasting the lowest unemployment rates among the states and territories, and is at its lowest since 2008. “This data is proof of the strength of the economy and the resilience of WA businesses,” said WA Premier and Treasurer Mark McGowan.
- Victoria has introduced the Virtual Emergency Department program, allowing health practitioners to assess non-urgent patients remotely, in order to ease pressure on overburdened hospitals throughout the state. The program received $21 million in funding funneled from the Victorian Government’s $1.4 billion Healthcare Omicron Response package in February 2022.
- The CSIRO is developing twelve emerging tech fields through its $8.4 million Next Generation Graduates programs after estimating that Australia will need over 160,000 AI specialists before 2030 and 156,000 digital and emerging tech professionals before 2025. Selected university students will use AI and emerging tech solutions to solve challenges involving mental health, digital privacy, smart cities and the metaverse.