From the time of the announcement of the Australian Government's independent review of its use and management of its Information and Communications Technology, AIIA has been an active participant in this process.
In April 2008 Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Lindsay Tanner, engaged Sir Peter Gershon to lead an independent review of the Australian Government's use and management of information and communication technology (ICT).
AIIA consulted its members and prepared a detailed submission to the Gershon Review process. AIIA's submission was underpinned by three central themes:
The government will gain significant benefit from the consistent application of best practice in the acquisition, implementation, governance and use of ICT.
best practice in all these areas should be developed through consultation with industry.
central coordination of government ICT will deliver benefits in effectiveness, cost reduction project outcomes.
Representatives of the AIIA Board, individual members companies, and representative SMEs subsequently had meetings with Sir Peter and the Review team, prior to Sir Peter's submission of his report to Minister Tanner in late August 2008.
The Gershon Report was publicly released on 16 October 2008. AIIA and its member companies considered the Report and developed AIIA's response document which identified the primary areas of support and concern arising from the Report. The AIIA response also highlighted areas in which AIIA offered to assist Government with the implementation of the Gershon Review.
Cabinet subsequently considered the Gershon recommendations and endorsed them in entirety, with only minor modifications.
Following its Board meeting of November 2008, AIIA outlined its approach to working with Government toward a successful implementation of the Gershon recommendations. This centred on the establishment of AIIA's Gershon Engagement Team which was formed in December 2008.
In January/February 2009 AGIMO conducted briefing sessions in Canberra and in Brisbane. You may access here the slides from the presentations given by Ann Steward and by John Sheridan.
AGIMO (Ann Steward) and AIIA's Chair (John Grant, Data#3) participated in March 2009 in a Financial Review/MIS Australia Leadership Series discussion panel on the impact and implications of the Gershon Review. You can view the podcast of this discussion.
In conjunction with the June 2009 visit to Australia of John Higgins, Director-General of Intellect (AIIA's UK counterpart), AGIMO provides update presentations to AIIA members in Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney. Presentations were given by AGIMO's Ann Steward and Trevor Smallwood and may be viewed here.
Most of the work of AIIA's Gershon Engagement Team is performed on-line, to enable AIIA members to contribute in their own time, irrespective of geographical location. The primary tool to support collaboration by AIIA members on the Gershon implementation program is the Gershon wiki. You will need to be a member of the AIIA Gershon Wiki to participate in on-line discussions of the issues listed below.
Current issues for AIIA's Gershon Engagement Team include:
Further details on how you may access and contribute to this collaborative process are available through the Gershon wiki.
Contact
For any questions in respect of the Gershon Engagement Team please email or phone:
Jack Radik Adviser - ICT Reform Program
(02) 6281 9444