Page 3344 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 18 September 2013
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The ESA website that I was talking about, which is the third component of the SPOT technology architecture, was development in 2011 as the ACT government single point of truth for information during emergencies. This site was developed using open source software and features all emergency alerts, updates and warnings on the homepage, a live current incidents feed overlaid on the top of a Google map, a fire danger meter, and a range of preparedness information and general advice.
The ESA website has recorded almost 1.5 million unique visits and almost three million page views since it went live in September 2011. During this time around half of the visits have come from people directly typing esa.act.gov.au into their browser. Massive spikes have been recorded during major emergency situations. 150,000 unique visits were recorded in less than 24 hours during the elevated fire danger conditions in January 2013.
Another way that our government supports innovation in ICT is through our support of National ICT Australia or NICTA. As my colleagues have noted, National ICT Australia is the country’s information communications technology research centre of excellence. It is Australia’s largest organisation dedicated to ICT research. Based here in Canberra, NICTA was developed in partnership between the commonwealth government, a number of state and territory governments, including the ACT government, and some of Australia’s leading universities.
Another example of the work that NICTA has done in collaboration with the ACT government was in the development of the mobile Canberra app, which Mr Rattenbury has already referred to. The mobile Canberra app provides mobile access to government data such as car parks, parks and playgrounds, public toilets and bus stops. This innovative program is, in some ways, an experiment into the best ways that government can provide information to its citizens. I doubt whether applications such as mobile Canberra would have been developed without partnering with an organisation such as NICTA.
I know that in my community where I live, the electorate of Ginninderra, I encourage people to use the app. I have had very positive feedback from people who live in my community and, indeed, across Canberra when they have accessed the app on their phone and have been able to log where they have found a crack in their footpath or where there is a tree that has been in need of watering or care. They have had an instant response as a result of logging that through the app. They receive an email telling them that their issue has been received and will be addressed.
That is one of the ways that NICTA has supported the ACT community. It is more than just developing an app; it is actually making a difference to people’s lives because it is not something that they have to dwell on forever. They can actually do something about it by going to the app.
NICTA as an educational institution also stands as an inspiration to young people who are considering studies in IT. As has been pointed out to me and my colleagues Ms Porter and Dr Bourke, Hawker College in our electorate strongly invests in ICT courses. In recent years they have benefited from a donation from an alumnus who,
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