Page 4263 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 22 September 2010
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governance and management and the need for a strategic plan. The government does not disagree with any of the sentiment of Ms Le Couteur’s motion, but I do appreciate having the opportunity to update members on where we are up to. We do take it seriously, and we are more than happy to report back to the Assembly in March next year on progress on all of the issues that Ms Le Couteur has identified.
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (11.06): I join with the Chief Minister in thanking Ms Le Couteur for bringing this issue on. One of the aspects of Canberra that I think people acknowledge is that we are an IT city. For many years we led the development and implementation of the use of IT in this country. It was pleasing to hear the Chief Minister praising InTACT, an initiative of the previous Liberal government—and to that you can add things like TransACT and Canberra Connect, which really did enable the ACT to move forward in leaps and bounds in front of the rest of the country. I am not sure that the progress has been as strong over the last nine years, but I look forward to seeing the strategy and we will look at the strategy when it is put in place. It is important that we keep abreast of this. It is important that we provide, particularly through government, the example of how to use ICT and limit its impact on the environment.
So in regard to the first point that Ms Le Couteur makes, yes, ICT is a major enabler of government functions. That is certainly acknowledged. It was certainly acknowledged by the Liberal Party through our formation of InTACT, TransACT and Canberra Connect. ICT is a major employer in the ACT. I remember a St George Trends magazine article from about 2002 that acknowledged that Canberra had, under the previous government, become the ICT capital of Australia. That is something we should be proud of. It is certainly an achievement that this side of the Assembly is very proud of.
The motion then goes to subparagraphs (1)(c) and (1)(d). It says that ICT is a significant user of power, and I think we all acknowledge that. And it says that ICT is a significant generator of waste. That is why the previous government put in place the no waste by 2010 strategy. If you look at no waste by 2010, you will see that it says as a principle to look at industries that are creating waste. From that there are opportunities to create new industries to deal with it. What you cannot reduce and what you cannot reuse you must find a way to recycle. That was one of the objectives of no waste by 2010. Particularly in an industry like ICT, as technology grew, as technology changed and as new technology became available, the whole issue of waste needed to be addressed.
Paragraph (2) of the motion talks about some information about the government. It says that the government does not know the whole-of-government ACT energy use. I hear what the Chief Minister says, and we certainly look forward to the development of the strategy. Through discussions with the Chief Minister’s office, we are now aware that they do have a draft ICT plan in place, or will soon. As noted in subparagraph (3)(f), I am told, that plan should be available by 30 March 2011.
From discussions with Ms Le Couteur and the Chief Minister’s office, let me say that when you get to subparagraphs (2)(c) and (2)(d) of the motion, the Chief Minister has said that he is intrigued as to how that fits into the motion. From speaking with
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