Flat budget for NSW Government CIO

Focus on NBN.

The New South Wales Government Chief Information Office (GCIO) has been given a flat budget for the next 12 months as governments all over Australia look to rein in IT costs.

The GCIO Budget for 2010-11, handed down in the NSW State Budget yesterday, came in at $60.17 million, just over four percent lower than the 2009-10 Budget ($63.017 million).

A spokesman for the NSW Government told iTnews that little should be read into the four percent movement - as the GCIO's budget tends to "fluctuate from year to year depending on long-term projects that may be starting or winding down."

The NSW Government said its emphasis for the coming twelve months would be to ensure the economy of NSW is "well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities the national broadband network will offer", citing the development of the NSW National Broadband Network Taskforce.

The taskforce is made up of several NSW Government agencies, industry associations and research and development organisations.

A spokesman for the NSW Government said the group is tasked with:

• Facilitating access to NSW Government assets to support the NBN rollout.
• Working with the NBN Co for a priority rollout in NSW.
• Establishing 'testbeds' to test the next generation of applications and content that access to high bandwidths will enable.