NSW's Digital Restart Fund gets $500m funding boost

The NSW Government has allocated a further $500m to the Digital Restart Fund.

“We are increasing the Digital Restart Fund’s budget to $2.1 billion, thanks to an extra $500 million over three years, while the Data Analytics Centre — so crucial in informing the state’s response to COVID-19 — will receive $38.3 million over four years,” said Minister for Digital and Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello.

The funding will support three key initiatives: the Ministry of Health’s Single Digital Patient Record - Phase 1 Project to enhance care coordination across hospitals and other settings; the Department of Customer Service’s eConstruction initiative to develop digital platforms for certification registries; and cybersecurity projects across the Departments of Education, Planning Industry and Environment, Premier and Cabinet, Communities and Justice, Police, Transport for NSW, and Ministry of Health to improve security and proactively manage threats.

“The Department of Customer Service will also see a $130 million funding boost, the lion’s share of which will go towards the work of Service NSW, which has been a leading light for citizens and businesses throughout the pandemic,” said Dominello.

“We want to save customers time and money when interacting with government, and technology is a critical part of the solution as we’ve seen with the Service NSW App, the NSW QR Code system and Dine & Discover vouchers.

“This funding also allows us to build on popular products like the Digital Driver Licence, FuelCheck and Park’nPay, while also uplifting our cyber and information security systems.”

There is also $660 million capital funding to complete the statewide roll out of the Critical Communications Enhancement Program.

“The Public Safety Network provides emergency services organisations with a single, resilient, safe and integrated network to communicate, which helps save lives,” Dominello said.

“Every second counts in an emergency, and we need to protect frontline responders by making it easier for them to communicate when it matters most.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/freshidea