TELECOMMUNICATIONS TASKFORCE

Ms BETTISON (Ramsay) (14:51): My question is to the Minister for the Public Sector. Can the minister inform the house about the government's initiative to identify savings in telecommunications?

The Hon. M.F. O'BRIEN (Napier—Minister for Finance, Minister for the Public Sector) (14:51): I thank the member for Ramsay for this question. Since the Premier re-established the finance portfolio in October last year, the government has rigorously reviewed operational expenditure in key areas to deliver significant savings. As I have previously informed the house, these projected savings include government travel (around $2.75 million a year), postage ($573,000 over three years) and stationery procurement ($5.36 million over three years).

With regard to potential savings in telecommunications, the Auditor-General in his 2012 annual report highlighted matters that were brought to his attention by the Office of the Chief Information Officer. In April 2012, the CIO carried out an internal audit to examine agency carrier billing for services under existing purchase agreements. Four government agencies were analysed in this audit.

Some of these findings were noted in the Auditor-General's Report, including that 2,335 fixed voice services generated zero calls in the six month audit period, and 396 mobile services generated no calls or data usage. As I have said, these audits were actually done by government and the findings conveyed to the Auditor-General.

The Auditor-General has rightly brought these matters to public attention, and it is a priority of the government that wastage in telecommunications services is eliminated. The CIO will continue to monitor the usage of agencies and cancel superfluous services. To support this, I have established a telecommunications task force to monitor and identify savings initiatives. Reporting directly to me, the task force is chaired by the Chief Information Officer and comprises executive members of other agencies.

The task force has been given a number of responsibilities including: to undertake a review of external fixed lines to reduce the number where possible; to undertake a review of mobile data plans across government to ensure that all users are on the most suitable plan to meet their needs; and to develop a policy position to determine how mobile devices and associated data plans are allocated. The task force is also investigating the wider use of secure instant messaging to reduce telephone costs and fewer diversions of fixed line calls to mobiles.

As a result of these initiatives the task force is seeking to identify savings upwards of $2 million per year—a significant amount that can be better allocated by the government. Final recommendations from the task force will be submitted to me by March 2013 and I look forward to updating the house on the savings achieved.