NSW Govt invests millions in digital infrastructure, services

The New South Wales Government has increased its investment in digital infrastructure and services.

As part of the 2021-22 State Budget, the NSW Government increased the budget of its Digital Restart Fund by $500 million to $2.1 billion and its Data Analytics Centre will receive $38.3 million over four years.

The investments aim to enable the NSW Government to accelerate the roll-out of a number of new digital products and services over the next 12 months.

The projects to be funded by the investments include the Ministry of Health’s Single Digital Patient Record, the Department of Customer Service’s eConstruction initiative, and cybersecurity projects across the Departments of Education, Planning Industry and Environment, Premier and Cabinet, Communities and Justice, Police, Transport for NSW, and the Ministry of Health.

NSW minister for digital and customer service Victor Dominello said the Department of Customer Service will also see a $130 million funding boost, where a large chunk will go to Service NSW.

“We want to save customers time and money when interacting with Government, and technology is a critical part of the solution as we’ve seen with the Service NSW App, the NSW QR Code system and Dine & Discover vouchers,” Dominello said.

“This funding also allows us to build on popular products like the Digital Driver Licence, FuelCheck and Park’nPay, while also uplifting our cyber and information security systems.”

Also getting funding is the state-wide rollout of the Critical Communications Enhancement Program, securing $660 million in capital funding.

“The Public Safety Network provides emergency services organisations with a single, resilient, safe and integrated network to communicate, which helps save lives,” Dominello said.

“Every second counts in an emergency and we need to protect front line responders by making it easier for them to communicate when it matters most.”