ICT Awards

Mr GEE (Napier) (15:27): My question is to the Minister for the Public Sector. Can the minister inform the house about the SA iAwards and the way these awards encourage the use of ICT to transform service delivery in government?

The Hon. S.E. CLOSE (Port Adelaide—Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for the Public Sector) (15:27): The iAwards, now in its 20^th year, is a national competition that recognises organisations and individuals at the cutting edge of technology. The host partners of the iAwards, the Australian Computer Society, the Australian Information Industry Association and the Pearcey Foundation, strongly advocate the importance of recognising the innovation and productivity which ICT delivers across all facets of Australian life.

Significantly, the iAwards are judged by the ICT industry. The South Australian iAwards presentation was held last Friday, 27 June 2014 and our public sector was well represented with a record eight nominations submitted for judging.

South Australia has excelled at the iAwards over the years. This year, the Premier attended the awards ceremony and presented the inaugural Premier’s iAward. This award is a new feature of the annual South Australian iAwards program and it is the first time in the program’s national history that a premier has recognised the ingenuity, creativity and innovation work of their public sector employees in this forum.

I would like to formally acknowledge all of the entrants in this year’s iAwards and give a special mention to the South Australia Police project, Mobile Fingerprint Scanning, which won the Premier’s iAward.

The SAPOL Mobile Fingerprint Scanning Solution is an android smartphone-based application developed by NEC. It enables SAPOL officers to scan the fingerprints of persons of interest at the scene, checking against the national database within 90 seconds.

The application, which is currently on trial by SAPOL, is a fantastic example of technology making a real difference to service delivery. As the Premier said about the winning project, ‘Mobile fingerprinting will enhance policing capabilities to keep the community safe’ and it is another example of public sector employees increasingly using state-of-the-art ICT solutions to improve their customer service and drive productivity in government.

Our state iAwards winners go on to represent South Australia and compete in the national phase of the iAwards, hosted in Melbourne on 27, 28 and 29 August this year. Winners at the national level then have the opportunity to compete internationally through the affiliated Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards program. All South Australians should be proud of their public sector, and we wish the SA iAwards winners all the best for their national competition in August.