Page 4255 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Web 2.0 or Gov 2.0. I think we should have a debate at a later time about those issues, because I think that these are areas where the ACT can lift its game and should lift its game. But I am not trying to cover the whole gamut of that in this motion. Where I am talking about information provision in this motion, I am just talking about the basic things which I think that all the residents of the ACT who are connected with the various bits of information that interest them would think the government should do.
Also, I would like to say that I am very pleased that Ms Porter has the national broadband motion later today. That was something else that I had originally put in my motion, but I decided to take it out because there is a limit to how much you can put in one motion, or so I thought. So it is very good that we will be able to talk about the broadband issue in a little while.
I guess one of the things I would like to say is that, if we do have a positive solution to the various problems besetting the world at present, ICT will be involved in it. It is ICT which has enabled us, to some extent, to know of all our problems. Without that, I am sure we would not have the understanding we do have, for instance, of the greenhouse effect and what that is doing with climate change. It is ICT which is helping to create the problems, but it will also be ICT which helps solve the problems. ICT is not inherently green, but it is something which is going to be very, very important to having a positive green future, and that is the spirit in which I move this motion today.
This motion is very much one about better housekeeping and better management of ICT. ICT is important to the ACT, and we can look after it better. It is worth paying attention to. Canberra’s economy is a knowledge-based economy, and the green economy which we will move into will be one which is based on skills.
I will start going through the motion, as I only have another 11 minutes. ICT is a major enabler of government functions. You just need to look at Ms Porter’s subsequent motion about the NBN and a number of the things she mentions in that to know that. Secondly, ICT is a major employer in the ACT. The ACT employs four per cent of the ICT sector, which is twice its share of the total employment in Australia. Some 76 per cent of the public service ICT staff are, in fact, located in the ACT, so this is really important to the ACT.
The ACT is also a leader in green ICT education. At ANU, the first globally available and accredited green ICT course has been established. That was established at the beginning of last year sponsored by the Australian Computer Society.
ICT is a significant user of power. This is very important in light of the commitment that the ACT is shortly going to make, I believe, to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent. ICT worldwide accounts for about two per cent of global emissions, and the Australia Computer Society found that it is up to about 2.7 per cent of CO2 emissions in Australia. But a study by Deloitte found that ICT and office equipment typically contributes about 30 or 40 per cent of the total carbon footprint of service-based organisations, organisations such as most of the ACT public service. I think that it could be a very significant figure as far as we are concerned.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video