Matthew Mulrine

Some information was released overnight about the LNP Housing Plan, ahead of today's State Budget reply speech. While there are still many details to come, it's encouraging to see some of the proposed measures in scope, including shared equity programs and major infrastructure partnerships with local government to increase housing supply. New and innovative concepts for maximising church-owned land and utiliising vacant bedrooms make for interesting reading. And if the reports are accurate, there is a strong commitment to achieving housing targets leading up to 2046. Q Shelter is looking forward to unpacking all the details and providing useful budget analysis for the sector. This will include areas of convergence with the major parties on housing policy and differences in approaches. https://lnkd.in/g6FcR_Qh Stay tuned. #StateBudget #Housing #Homelessness #HomeMatters #BetterTogether #Queensland

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Tirohia e te whanau. Another update from the GCDO on Public Service use of AI. A big mihi to the team that put this information together. #AIinnovation #SafeAI #Transparency https://lnkd.in/gizNcVur

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A new free data resource providing timely, high-quality insights about regional visits was launched this week by Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade)'s Tourism Research Australia.   The new mobility data, which uses de-identified and aggregated data from several million mobile phones, harnesses technology to provide insights regarding domestic travellers that traditional surveys can’t.   Mobility data is published by TRA monthly, typically within a fortnight of month's end. This complements TRA’s more comprehensive National #Visitor Survey, which will continue to be published each quarter.   The monthly #Data is a fast and reliable source of insights on domestic visitors for the #Tourism industry.   My colleague Grant Ferres outlines that we have been publishing mobility data at a national and state/territory level for several months. He says this week's inaugural release of data for all 76 tourism regions is a continuation along TRA’s path of delivering data at more granular levels of geography and on a more timely basis. We have been able to develop this data for publication thanks to additional funding from the Australian Government   TRA's mobility data model draws on data from a variety of sources, including mobile phone network and GPS data, population data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and inputs from TRA’s own National Visitor Survey. All data is anonymised and aggregated, to ensure confidentiality and privacy is prioritised at every stage.   The free new data resource is published in a user friendly interactive dashboard, which allows users to choose the geographic location and month of interest. The data is presented as a comparison with the same month from the previous year, to assist with understanding changes and trends in visitation.  It will greatly assist Regional Tourism Organisations and Local Governments to understand movement by travellers (ie those who are travelling for day trips, overnight trips).   Mobility data also forms an important and major component of a new domestic ‘big data’ product called Domestic Tourism Statistics (DoTS), which will replace the current National Visitor Survey as the source of official domestic tourism statistics from early next year.     Improving data and insights is a priority of Australia’s national long-term strategy for the visitor economy, THRIVE 2030, and the new data supports Australia’s broader Data and Digital Government strategy.   View the monthly regional mobility data at https://lnkd.in/d7DSHjgU   #DomesticTravel #Travel #TourismStatistics #TravelStats #InformingDecisions #RTOs #LocalGovernment Queensland Tourism Industry Council NSW Tourism Association Tourism Industry Council SA (TiCSA) Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) Tourism Industry Council Tasmania Tourism Top End Tourism Council WA Australian Regional Tourism Ltd (ART) Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW)

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Getting there ... #digitalID legislation is good ✅ and now terrific to see some funding for trials of #digitalwallets and #verifiablecredentials as part of the Australian Government Digital Identity System (AGDIS). Identity is great but only half the story. We need an end-to-end and secure system. It is pointless to be able to prove who you are digitally if you still have to produce/copy/send paper documents and certificates.

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The ACT Government welcomes the wide range of initiatives in the 2024-25 Commonwealth Budget that will benefit Canberrans and our city. We know that Canberra households have faced significantly rising costs over the past two years. The $300 Energy Bill Relief for every household in the ACT will provide much needed relief for nearly two hundred thousand Canberra households. Across the five jurisdictions in the National Electricity Market the ACT will continue to have the lowest standing offers in 2024-25 after other jurisdictions increased by up to 29% last financial year. The ACT Government will assess further energy bill relief for Canberra households in the June Territory Budget once the ICRC final price determination is known. The redesigned Stage 3 Tax Cuts will provide income tax relief to every worker in the ACT from 1 July 2024. Collectively, ACT residents will benefit the most from these tax cuts as we have a high proportion of pay-as-you-earn taxpayers in the relevant income tax brackets. We welcome the changes to the tax cuts that were designed to support lower and middle income workers to manage cost of living pressures. While rising cost of living pressures have been broad based, households’ ability to deal with these pressures is unevenly distributed, impacting employees substantially more than others. Almost four in every five taxpayers in the ACT will receive a larger tax cut compared to the previous Liberal Government’s plan. We also welcome the HECS debt relief for 57,000 people in the ACT, predominantly providing support to younger Canberrans who have recently graduated. The changes, particularly the fact they have been backdated, are a necessary intervention to avoid unfair outcomes for young workers now and into the future. The ACT has the highest proportion of university level educational attainment in the country so, collectively, Canberrans will be the greatest beneficiaries from these changes. The deeming rates freeze will also provide additional cost of living relief to an estimated 14,500 income support recipients in Canberra. Additionally, the Federal Government’s investment through the Strengthening Medicare fund in partnership with the ACT Government will take the pressure off our hospital system and continue to ensure Canberrans get the care they need when they need it. This investment will strengthen our partnership to make our nurse-led walk-in centres even better, delivering more healthcare workers and more services and ensure we can better support older Canberrans can stay out of hospital and get home sooner. We also support the decision in the Budget to freeze the cost of medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. The increase of Commonwealth Rent Assistance by a further 10 per cent, building on the 15 per cent increase in last year’s Budget will benefit approximately 7,300 Canberra households.

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Did you know digital professionals are in demand right now all over Queensland?    There’s never been a better time to start a digital career.    There’s much more to a digital career than you might think. Digital professionals work in creative roles, have broad skills, collaborate in teams and design innovative solutions to problems.    Start your digital career by applying for the 2025 Queensland Government Digital Graduate Program with one of Australia’s top employers. Link is in the comments section below. #digitalcareers #thepowerofdigital #digitaleconomy #digitalgraduateprogram #queenslandgovernment Lauren Chow Bronte Mark Shauna Tupai Alfred Ong Matthew Le Page Fred Williams

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🎉The 6th Social Media for Gov NZ conference starts today! 🌟 Join us as we delve into discussions on strengthening public sector engagement in the digital era through innovation, trust, and reach. 🚀 Let's spark meaningful conversations and explore new ways to connect with citizens online. Don't miss out on this opportunity to learn and grow! #SocialMediaForGov #PublicSectorEngagement #Innovation #Trust #Reach #SM4GovNZ 🌐💬📱

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Wonderful to see a local government leading on the need for a new PDA to help unlock huge potential for new housing supply as it seeks to deal with population growth and other challenges. We met with Cairns Mayor, Amy Eden, and the Director of Planning, Ed Johnson, this week to discuss the council's push for a Priority Development Area (PDA) in the Mt Peter Southern Growth Corridor. We were discussing the opportunities presented by the new Economic Development Queensland remit that recently passed through the Queensland Parliament, including the role of community housing providers (CHPs). We expressed our sector’s keen interest, which is also one of our key state election asks, to identify more PDA’s across Queensland to assist manage growth. We know conservatively there is an under supply of about 5,300 social homes in Cairns and by mid 2030, that under supply will jump to 11,500, subject to housing commencements. Cairns is also in the top 10 cities in the country for unmet housing need. By working closely with the Cairns Regional Council, and our local housing networks, we are confident that every lever is being pulled and explored locally, so it is time to lean into these options to unlock even more potential in the north. We look forward continuing the discussions about the PDA opportunity for Cairns and playing a partnership-role with the rest of the system to support this direction. #PriorityDevelopmentAreas #Cairns #HousingSupply #Planning #Development #Growth #CommunityHousing

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It’s conference season and the announcements are coming thick and fast. The Government announced this afternoon it will progress a second Resource Management Act Amendment Bill and a suite of changes to national direction “to drive economic growth and productivity” RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop says. “Our next step is four packages of reforms to be delivered through a second RMA Amendment Bill, which will be introduced alongside the single largest package of national direction changes in New Zealand’s history: seven new national direction instruments, and amendments to fourteen existing ones”. There will be a new NPS-Infrastructure providing amongst other things a consistent approach to quarrying across the Resource Management System and easier consent pathways for renewable energy. For housing, the reform needed to enable the first pillar of the Government’s Going For Housing Growth will require councils to demonstrate compliance with the 30-year Housing Growth Targets at the same time allowing opt out of the Medium Density Residential Standards. It will also include changes to the National Policy Statement-Urban Development and the National Policy Statement-Highly Productive Land, simplify heritage management, and develop new national direction to enable granny flats and papakāinga housing. There will also be a new national direction on natural hazards which will provide direction to councils on how to identify natural hazards, assess the risk they pose, and how to respond to that risk through planning controls. The RMA Amendment Bill 2 will also include improved emergency provisions to better enable rapid responses to disasters. In terms of timing we can expect legislation to be introduced before the end of the year and have pass it into law in mid-2025 with the new and revised NPS following a similar timeline. We can also expect the legislation that replaces the Resource Management Act to be introduced to Parliament too before the end of 2025. #NPSUD #NPSI #NPSHPL #NPSNHD #MDRS #RMAReform #GfHG

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Support for innovative SMEs to commercialise and grow their business

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I'm a Gateway Reviewer and in my last review (a few weeks back), there was a risk of a General Election in the summer identified as 'Amber/Green and trending down'. Three key things to note about that: 1. Gateway Reviews are not a 'school report' or a narrative on the competence of the leader or team, although they so often are taken as such. They put delivery competence into the delivery context, and are also an assessment of the 'difficulty' and 'impact' of maturing risk. 2. Some risks you have to tolerate, and it may be impossible to assess their likelihood correctly, but good leaders will always have a 'worst case scenario' and a place to go, if they mature. In this instance, the impact on the project I reviewed will be catastrophic (as the planning was entirely dependent on a legislative timetable that is now impossible). 3. Government Projects have to be able to withstand a change of personnel which comes with a change of Government. Often the machinery of Govt changes too. Because we haven't had a change of Government for 12 years' many civil servants now, who weren't civil servants then, have not experienced how significant a change to their work a change of Govt is. Many senior civil servants leave after a change of Govt (a secondary but important risk), because they feel the organisations values shift too far from their own. This is why I have an issue with Business Schools who perpetually rattle on about the 'vision and mission of organisations and their leaders as the most important project delivery quality'. It's utter rubbish. Being a good project delivery civil servant in times like these? It means resilience, an ability to listen to, and adapt to change quickly, to be good at scenario planning and to be able to focus on business benefit and be able to communicate that quickly to your new political masters and to your team so that they 'get it' and focus quickly on the new priorities. #riskmanagement #changemanagement

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Victorian Small Business Commission (VSBC) The VSBC offers low-cost dispute resolution services, including mediation and champions the rights of small businesses. They also provide small businesses with the right tools to avoid or resolve disputes quickly, so they can focus on building their businesses. Their services include: Preliminary assistance: provide information to small business on their rights and obligations to prevent or help resolve issues. This is done by email, over the phone, on the website or through Fact sheets and brochures. Pre-mediation assistance: to help resolve the dispute. Low-cost mediation: VSBC gets both parties together with an experienced independent mediator to confidentially discuss issues and try to reach an agreement. Information and resources: a comprehensive website, a helpline, information materials, news and events to help businesses build their knowledge. For more information visit: https://lnkd.in/gE-bSqsz #disputeresolution #smallbusiness

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How do you write alt-text that meets the needs of a diverse audience? How do you balance information when some users prefer brevity and others want detail? Vision Australia provides an alt text framework. The framework ensures your alt text is meaningful and concise. #ContentDesign #Accessibility https://lnkd.in/gB4uc8hr

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😎 Registrations close tomorrow! 😎 Don't miss this opportunity to get a free micro credential through the University of the Sunshine Coast in Workforce Planning for Regions, registrations close on the 25th September. The course is run over 7 weeks either online or in person at UniSC. Why do the course?: Strategic workforce planning plays a pivotal role in driving economic and social development by providing crucial insights into both the existing and future skillsets required within regions. This ensures sustainable economic growth and prosperity. Workforce planning is a critical component in shaping a region’s labour market. Head to: https://lnkd.in/gvCBKaM5 to register and for more information. #workforceplanning #workforcedevelopment #regionalqueensland #jobsqueensland #LGAQ #buildingcapability

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If you take time to read one thing today, make it this 👇 ‘There’s usually a close relationship between the definition of a service and its scope. However, we’ve learned that scope does not itself define a service. It’s all about understanding the #outcome that you want to deliver’ Services delivery is always about the outcomes -and not just the end product outcomes- but the outcomes along the client and employe journey ( pay the right benefits, communicate the right information, apply the right policies) Focus on the getting the outcomes right and you can deliver the best service.

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This week, Ministers Katy Gallagher and Ed Husic MP announced the policy for the responsible use of AI in government. Coming into effect 1 September 2024, the policy aims to build public trust by encouraging responsible choices across the APS. The launch of this policy is the result of months of hard work from my talented colleagues at the Digital Transformation Agency and the Department of Industry, Science and Resources. There's plenty more to come but I really wish to thank and congratulate: Lauren Mills, Anthony Murfett, Johnny Chong, Angus Clark, Menz Bianca, Cameron Cooke, Matt Jodlowski, Kyle Bassett, Evan Hill, Garrett Kelly, Slavomir Kucharski, Hew Sandison, Stephanie Mittiga, Tobiko Huho, Bidisha Sarkar, Ben Leech, James Fehon, David Auricht, Emily Farrell, Paul Joice, John Morrison, Amber Fletcher, Tristan Kalnins-Cole, Simon Noble, Sarita Moore, Jessica Carew GAICD, Adrian Waddy, Marek Rucinski, Nick Woodruff, Jacqueline Barr, Rachel Antone, Pia Andrews, Margaret Tregurtha, and Roman Kovalenko for their dedication and support. I also extend my thanks to the many more who supported the AI taskforce and its consultation forums, including the agencies and departments that participated in the AI Steering Committee and Working Group. You have all meaningfully contributed to shaping the government’s response to the rapid evolution of AI technologies. Read more about the AI in government policy on the blog below.

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I can't see this through the paywall, but I don't need to. It's about bloody time. But will it be enough? Having worked with a senior government representative on developing the original, world leading, #AustralianStandard for #GovernanceofIT. I naïvely imagined that the #government was actually interested in higher levels of success. When I made a formal offer to the government to train people in reference to the standard, and to conduct assessments based on the standard, I received a letter from that same person, then a Deputy Chief Information Officer in the Australian Government Information Management Office, explaining that the #government had no need of my assistance because it had all the expertise in governance of IT that it would ever need. By then I had already published several damning reviews of government shipwrecks and my book, Waltzing with the Elephant (IT was the elephant in the room), but the arrogance prevailed. Twenty years on from when we finalised #AS8015 (later adopted globally as #ISO38500), I still battle government incompetence in the IT arena, this time as the parent of a #disabled man whose future is at risk through the perverse practices and systems of the #NDIA. And for the sake of absolute clarity, one of the primary issues with the NDIA is its persistent tokenism in the field of #codesign, which struggles to be even a facsimile of the abject failure in stakeholder engagement that led to the great #Customs Cargo Crash of 2005. It's high time we went beyond education, because clearly the central issue now is #wilful #ignorance, and for that there should be severe #penalties. Marie J. Tony Ridley, MSc CSyP FSyI SRMCP Karen Kline Samantha Connor Georgia van Toorn Annette A. Tara Hannon Mark Sweeney Graham Taylor Amanda Challen👩‍🦼 Nick Avery Paul Flintoft Shirley Humphris Cat Walker Peter Gregory InnovationAus.com Alexandra Jones Jo Puccini Echo Hui Paul Karp Rick Morton

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Such an interesting concept, and such a great opportuntiy for professional development and the ability to understand your organisation better - living in another departments shoes. I personally would love to experience more in economic development areas of Local Government as my first choice of a "job swap". What area in your organisation would you want to experience???

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📣 A new episode of GovComms Podcast is coming tomorrow! In this episode, we are joined by Mardi Stewart EMPA, the Branch Manager of Campaigns and Strategic Communication at the Australian Department of Social Services (DSS) for a conversation about her career journey into public sector communications, campaign development and evaluation and the future of government communications. Stay tuned by following the podcast on streaming platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts! #Communications #PublicSector #Podcast

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