Peter Grant exits Qld government

Two-time Queensland Government CIO Peter Grant has left the state’s public service to return to private consultancy.

Peter Grant

Grant weathered a rollercoaster tenure in his second stint working for the government in the year and a half to May 2013, being appointed to the freshly re-created GCIO role by the Labor government just months before its landslide election defeat in March 2012.

He was removed from the position in still unexplained circumstances by the new LNP government mid last year, and took on a new executive role within the Department of Science, IT, Innovation and the Arts (DSITIA) overseeing the 'One Network' government network consolidation reforms.

Grant told iTnews the decision to leave was all about timing - the framework for One Network has been submitted for approval and the contract will expire at the end of the year.

“Essentially I reached a point where there was a deliverable at hand that I probably wasn’t going to be able to complete in the time I had left at the department,” he said.

“If I had stayed it would have been irrational to have me essentially not working towards anything in particular. It is important to me that I feel like I am contributing towards an end goal through my work.”

He held 'no bad blood' for his former colleagues within DSITA, including Director-General Sue Rickerby, who he described as “probably the best person I have worked with in the government,” as well as his successor in the QGCIO role Andrew Mills.

“Andrew is a skilled leader, a good guy and I wish him all the best in the role."

Grant said he was proud to leave the statewide ICT audit as his legacy to the public sector.

“Thanks to the ICT audit the government now has a level of transparency in terms of its IT that no other jurisdiction has ever had before. Going forward agencies will be able to make better decisions because they have the information at hand to know exactly what is going on," he said.

“I think the openness also created a sense of camaraderie between different IT teams which I think will translate into better inter-agency collaboration.”

Grant will now recommence his private consultancy practice, and will join a board of mentors advising start-ups though the University of the Sunshine Coast’s innovation centre.