The Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) has welcomed the decision by the NSW parliament's upper house to take on board its recommendations for improving public transport connectivity in the rapidly growing region. The Legislative Council’s newly published report into its inquiry into current and future public transport needs in Western Sydney includes recommendations for improvements that line up with the WSROC’s proposals. These include building two further stations west of Sydney Olympic Park on the Metro West line to help boost housing and economic revitalisation, and ..read more

A group of Australian researchers has launched an online database to track global policies and regulations around misinformation. The aim of the world-first database is to eventually provide freely accessible information on all digital policies. After receiving funding from the Australian Research Council’s Linkage Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities program, academics from the University of Sydney, University of New South Wales (UNSW) and University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) developed the International Digital Policy Observatory (IDPO), a free online database tracking policies and regu ..read more

Broadcom has updated its recently acquired VMware product portfolio to simplify pricing models and help standardise the ecosystem. The updates include transitioning VMware Cloud from perpetual to subscription licensing to bring the model in line with other major software providers. Meanwhile, VMware Cloud Foundation will enable customers to deploy on premise and then take their subscription to a supported hyperscale cloud or VMware Cloud Service Provider environment at any time. Broadcom has also reduced the size of the VMware portfolio from more than 160 products to a smaller set of offering ..read more

In little more than 12 months, generative AI has evolved from being a technical novelty into a powerful business tool. However, senior IT managers in the public sector believe the technology brings with it risks as well as benefits. According to the Immuta 2024 State of Data Security Report, 88% of senior managers say their staff are already using AI tools. This is regardless of whether their organisation has a firm policy of adoption. Asked to nominate the key IT security benefits offered by AI, respondents to the Immuta survey pointed to improved phishing attack identification and threat si ..read more

Victoria’s Central Highlands Water has selected Infor to support the organisation’s transformation into an agile, data-driven digital utility provider. Central Highlands Water will use the Infor CloudSuite Public Sector to help streamline and modernise its operations. The Infor suite is replacing five core legacy on-premise systems that cover a wide range of business processes, including financial accounting, budgeting and planning, asset management, procurement, and work order management. Adopting a cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution will help Central Highlands Water imp ..read more

Cobalt Iron has announced that it has received a patent on its technology for dynamic authorisation control based on IT security and operational events. US patent No. 11902285 describes dynamic, multidimensional authorisation control techniques that respond to changes or events in the environment and that improve over time based on machine learning. The company will implement these techniques in Cobalt Iron Compass, an enterprise SaaS backup platform. Authorisation controls are the processes by which individuals or entities are validated to have proper security authentication (ie, identity ve ..read more

After 14 declared natural disasters in just four years battered its roads, Shoalhaven City Council is using recycling trucks and artificial intelligence to tackle its pothole issues and keep the community safe. Partnering with TechnologyOne and Retina Visions, two Australian technology companies, the council last year trialled placing cameras at the front of six recycling trucks to monitor road conditions. Footage from the cameras is scoured by artificial intelligence to identify potholes, road cracks or damage. The data is then triaged and sent on to the council’s asset management solution t ..read more

When smart building technology is discussed, it’s usually in relation to how it can be put to use in commercial or residential settings. Smart access and lighting systems, climate control and security monitoring can add significant value to the businesses or individuals who opt to install them. What’s less understood, however, are the ways in which smart building technologies can have a positive impact on local governments and the communities they serve. They can improve efficiencies, lower costs and boost productivity. This stems from the fact that one of the main challenges faced by local g ..read more

Macquarie Government, part of Macquarie Technology Group, has announced it has been added to the Information Communications Technology Provider Arrangement (ICTPA) panel. Established in 2018 to replace the Applications Managed Service Partner Agreement (AMSPA), the ICTPA has been designed to facilitate IT service buying for Defence and related government agencies. The addition to the ICTPA panel will enable Australian defence and intelligence agencies to leverage Macquarie Government’s sovereign cloud, network perimeter cybersecurity and Security Operations Centre (SOC). Macquarie already wor ..read more

Gartner has identified the top five government technology trends that can guide public sector leaders to deliver better, faster and increasingly more cost-effective services for citizens. “Escalating global turmoil, continual cyber threats and the adoption of AI are putting increasing pressure on governments to meet citizen demands faster and more creatively than ever before,” said Todd Kimbriel, VP Analyst at Gartner. “Government CIOs must find new ways to meet citizen demands for modern, accessible and resilient services, by focusing on sustainable and scalable technology.” According to Gar ..read more