Rudd OKs public sector IT reform

Over the weekend Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that the government had accepted the recommendations of a report into how to improve the public service, many of which have implications for the service's information technology spend.

The report, called "Ahead of the Game — Blueprint for the Reform of Australian Government Administration", was made public in March. Its recommendations were targeted at delivering better services to citizens, developing better relationships between people and government, and improving the efficiency of the service's operation.

This involved recommending the implementation of a service delivery portal and an integrated information management system across departments, providing technology to share data and also pre-fill and share forms. The report also said that the public sector needed to address the IT skills gap in public service staff.

Echoing the Government 2.0 Taskforce's report, "Ahead of the Game" suggested that online policy forums and blogs were necessary to interact with citizens now that the "explosion in internet use" had "redefined the relationship between government and citizen".

As the government has already agreed to many of the taskforce's recommendations earlier this month, fulfilling this consideration will satisfy two reports.