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Tuesday, December 10, 2024
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Labor axes chief information officer

Robert Clark 1121 Views

Labor has axed the senior public servant in charge of government
information and communication policy and abolished her entire office. There
has been no public announcement or explanation of the axing, Shadow
Minister for Information and Communication Technology Robert Clark said
today.

The abolition adds further turmoil to Labor’s already fragmented and
ineffectual approach to managing the use of information and communication
technology within government that has cost taxpayers tens of millions of
dollars through bungled projects and lost opportunities such as the Mobile
Data Network and Project Rosetta.

The Government’s Chief Information Officer (CIO), Ms Jane Treadwell, has
been removed, her position and her entire office have been abolished, and
her former functions have now been vested in an unspecified part of the
Department of Treasury and Finance.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet web page for the Office of the Chief
Information Officer now simply states:

The functions of the former Office of the Chief Information Officer have
moved from the Department of Premier and Cabinet to the Department of
Treasury and Finance.

The axing appears to have taken place within the last week – as at January
24 the OCIO web page still contained full details of the Office and its
role together with a photograph of Ms Treadwell.

When the Bracks Government created the position of CIO in 2003, it was
heralded as a key position to:
…drive ICT policy and strategy within government and have
whole-of-government responsibility for:
– Innovative use of ICT to transform government service delivery;
– Investment in ICT to address the government’s priority outcomes;
– Strategic planning for ICT deployment across government; and
– Architecture planning and standardisation of corporate ICT
infrastructure.
(Media Release, Minister for Information and Communication Technology, 25
November 2003)

Since then, Labor’s ICT policy and administration has floundered, with
responsibility divided between the Minister for Information and
Communication Technology, Multimedia Victoria and the CIO. The axing of the
CIO and the shifting of her functions to DTF does nothing to resolve the
problems or to achieve better use of ICT within government.

The Government must now answer the questions it should have already
answered publicly:

– Why was the Chief Information Officer dumped?

– Why was there no public announcement?

– Who instigated the move?

– What has happened to the other public servants working in OCIO?

– Why has the government decided to have half of its ICT bureaucracy
based in DTF working for Minister Holding as Minister for Finance, and the
other half based in DOI working for him as Minister for Information and
Communication Technology?