Queensland finds spare change for ICT

The Queensland Government has allocated about $319 million for new and continuing IT projects in its 2011/12 state budget.

Of that planned spend, iTnews identified $144.2 million in capital works flagged across the State Government in the coming financial year, along with $175.1 million in continuing capital works.

• $154 million to the Department of Health for new ICT infrastructure.
• $51.1 million to Queensland Police for ICT initiatives comprising a computer-aided dispatch system, a technology refresh and a new digital traffic camera system. The latter forms part of a wider $41 million funding package to both Police and the Department of Transport and Main Roads for road safety initiatives.
• $45 million over three years to the Department of Education and Training for continuation of the National Secondary Schools Computer Fund, part of the Federal Government's $2.3 billion Digital Education Revolution. The new funding would provide service support, software licensing, operational infrastructure and networking equipment to complement the computers rollout.
• $22.7 million to the state's shared service provider CITEC for data centre consolidation, networks and infrastructure services and implementation of a government-wide email system, a program ongoing since at least 2008. It will also receive $2.5 million for ongoing maintenance of internal government portal GovNet.
• $13.7 million over four years to the Department of Community Safety to deploy GPS tracking devices for convicted sex offenders. $4.1 million would be set aside each year after the 2014-2015 financial year for continued operation of the system. A departmental spokesperson told iTnews the system would replace the current radio-based monitoring system used since 2007. A tender for the program is expected to be released shortly.
• $6.1 million to State Treasury to replace IT assets and office equipment, and to add a royalties module to the Revenue Management System portal.
• $3.1 million to the Department of Premier and Cabinet to develop a user portal for better access to state legislation.