Australian state to appoint CIO

The Queensland government has announced plans to create a state government Chief Information Officer (CIO) role tasked with driving consistent IT outcomes across state departments and agencies. The Queensland Government CIO (QGCIO), announced by Queensland premier Anna Bligh, will oversee ICT project management for the government, with the successful candidate set to report directly to the Minister for ICT, and support the director-general of the state Department of Premier and Cabinet. The move is a response to a recommendation made by an assurance, tax, and business consulting services provider— PricewaterhouseCoopers— in its review of the state’s whole-of-Government IT provider late last year.
According to Bligh, the CIO will be responsible for ICT project and programme management, the planning and implementation of the government’s Towards Q2 through ICT strategy, government enterprise architecture, industry liaison and workforce and shared services policy. The CIO would be given an independent office and CEO-level role with sufficient autonomy and strength-of-mandate to drive consistent outcomes across government, she added. Bligh claimed the position is the first of its kind in Australia, where the CIO will support technological efforts across Queensland.
Until now, the CIO role had been carried out by the director general of Public Works. Bligh said that the director-general of the Department of Public Works would “continue to lead shared service delivery, as the accountable officer for the newly-created Queensland Shared Services, and will remain responsible for both CITEC and Smart Service Queensland”. “What we’re essentially doing is creating a contestable environment between the areas of government responsible for providing shared services and the policy functions providing advice to government,” she said.

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