in brief The NSW state government will reportedly target savings from its information technology operations as one portion of a mammoth re-shuffle of departments and agencies in the state budget next Tuesday.

Premier Nathan Rees briefed a limited set of media organisations on the plans this week, noting that the budget would merge 160 government agencies into just 13 super-departments in a move that many are billing as the biggest shake-up of the state's public sector in decades.

"Rees said there would be savings, but primarily in the areas of IT, procurement and purchasing goods and services for agencies," the Sydney Morning Herald reported today. The state already has a substantial plan to save money through on technology purchasing, dubbed People First.

ZDNet.com.au has requested comment from the Premier's office and the office of the state's whole of government chief information officer Emmanuel Rodriguez, who leads ICT policy for the government, on what the ramifications will be for the state's ICT function.