Vignette: Tasmanian ICT Programs 1992 to 2005

Around 1992-93 there was pressure from a number of sources that encouraged the Tasmanian Government to consider a whole of government approach to ICT adoption and management. This came from the Commonwealth Government, Office of Government IT (OGIT) which was advocating a whole of government approach to the outsourcing of ICT services and to the standardisation and integration of ICT infrastructure across all government agencies. In addition, the increasing adoption of Internet services and the development of intranet architectures, such as universal email services and online staff directories necessitated a whole of government approach. The increasing cost of ICT procurement also necessitated the identification of standardised equipment platforms and service interfaces on a whole of government level.

Most other states had engaged in a review of their ICT management practices, principally Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales, had established whole of government ICT policy boards or groups, typically within their Treasury and Finance agencies. The Tasmanian Government also established an Information Resource Management Task Force (IRMTF) within the Management Improvement Program being run with the Department of Treasury and Finance.

Chapter Four – Interviews and Vignettes

The IRMTF met regularly over a period of approximately 15 months and produced a final reported in August 1994. It undertook a number of information gathering activities, including the engagement of an Honours student from the University of Tasmania’s Department of Computer Science to undertake a review of major ICT projects over the preceding 12 years, the conduct of interviews and workshops with the thirty-odd ICT managers across the service, undertaking visits and reviews of the outcomes of similar exercises in other states, especially Queensland and Victoria, and the engagement of an ICT consultant from Queensland who had been actively involved in that state’s review and restructuring of its ICT procurement and management.

The major outcomes of the IRMTF report were the establishment of an Information Strategy Unit within the Tasmanian Department of Premier and Cabinet, with responsibility for the development and promotion of ICT policy at a whole of government level, and the creation of ICT management reference groups within each agency. The Information Strategy Unit continued actively in this role until about 1999 when it was replaced by a new ICT unit with a greater focus on ICT project management.

In 1997 the Liberal Rundle Government launched the Directions Statement, with a significant component of ICT-based initiatives. These included a Computers in Schools program, the establishment of the Online Access Centre program across Tasmania, and the promotion of a number of ICT investment initiatives. One focus of the Directions Statement was the achievement of a number of ICT-based quick-win programs that would raise the status of the ICT industry in Tasmania, and the creation of ICT-based employment opportunities. One specific direction was seeking to attract call centres to be established in Tasmania, in each of the major population centres, Glenorchy, Launceston and Burnie. In conjunction with the company Nortel there was significant discussion regarding the pursuit of similar ICT-based growth strategies as were evident in New Brunswick and Ireland.

Also around this time there was a general inquiry into the economic development of Tasmania, headed by the former Senator and Minister for Transport, Peter Nixon. The

Chapter Four – Interviews and Vignettes

University of Tasmania was encouraged to make submissions to this inquiry, and in conjunction with an industry advisory group, ‘Towards 2010’, developed proposals in the areas of an electronic commerce industry advisory centre, a centre for mineral exploration, a centre for food and agricultural science, and a centre for attracting and supporting international students. In the last quarter of 1996 the electronic commerce centre proposal was accepted as a viable option by the Department of Premier and Cabinet, and was jointly developed between the University and the Information Strategy Unit. When the Regional Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund became available through funds from the first sale of Telstra and the Networking the Nation fund, the Tasmanian Electronic Commerce Centre proposal was submitted and received support from the RTIF in mid-1997. The TECC was then established in about the third quarter of 1997 as a not-for-profit proprietary company, and the University of Tasmania and Tasmanian Government as the equal share holders. The Editor of the Examiner Newspaper, Rod Scott, was appointed as the Chair of the Board of the TECC, and Professor Peter Dowling, Dean of Commerce, was appointed as the University’s representative on that Board.

The TECC undertook an active role in the raising of electronic commerce awareness across Tasmanian industries, and the funding of lead projects in the development of demonstration electronic commerce projects through a competitive grant scheme. The School of Information Systems actively collaborated with the TECC through engagement in market activities of mutual interest, the placement of Honours, Masters and PhD students in TECC projects, and the sharing of research findings with the TECC, and sitting on a number of TECC committees and boards. The TECC funded a research position in the School of Information Systems at the University of Tasmania and Dr Paul Turner was appointed as Senior Research Fellow in August 2000. Dr Turner also worked with the TECC as Research Fellow on a part-time basis. In addition, the TECC funded scholarships of AU$6,000 per annum for several years, the provision of case study and promotional material to the School, active promotion of the School’s interests and the appointment of a number of PhD students as full and part-time staff members.

Chapter Four – Interviews and Vignettes

When the Liberal Rundle Government was replaced by the Labor Bacon Government in 1998, there was some period in which the ICT initiatives of the previous government were being reviewed. The Department of Economic Development then undertook a number of Industry Audits, including the Tasmanian ICT industry. These audits provided a snap-shot of the state of each industry, and some bases for future directions of each industry. At about the same time a number of industry councils, including the IT Industry Council, were appointed by the Premier. These Councils were then regarded as the peak industry bodies by the Tasmanian Government. There was some initial tension with a body that had been established by the previous government, the TasIT committee, which had a similar status, but was smaller and less representative.

The ICT Industry Audit provided the basis for informing Senator Brian Harradine during the debate regarding the second sale of Telstra, and led to the Intelligent Island funded. In total that was approximately AU$170 million, and covered a broad range of initiatives, but specifically there was AU$40 million marked for the development of the Tasmanian ICT industry, and was to be administered through the newly appointed Intelligent Island Board, chaired by Neville Roach, the CEO of Fujitsu Australia. There was a general recognition of the limitations of this amount of funds to achieve real change in Tasmania. However, there was a determination to achieve a sustainable outcome through the active engagement of industry partners, a desire to raise at least a number of Tasmanian ICT companies to a national and international level of competitiveness, and to maintain equity across the Tasmanian society by both social status and regions.

The IIB engaged the Allen Consulting Group to produce a strategic plan for the Intelligent Island program based on six different directions, including a major centre of excellence (AU$20 million), the establishment of an ICT incubator (AU$7 million), the improvement of ICT skills in Tasmania (AU$3 million), the attraction of ICT investment to Tasmania (AU$4.5 million), the development of the ICT industry in Tasmania (AU$5 million), and the promotion of related initiatives, such as network infrastructure (AU$0.5 million). There had been a commitment under the national Building on Information Technology Strengths (BITS) program to use part of the IIB

Chapter Four – Interviews and Vignettes

funds to establish an ICT incubator in Tasmania, and so this program was approved fairly early and established in conjunction with the University of Tasmania in Sandy Bay.

The IIB had a small secretariat and all of its operations, including all of its Board operations, were funded out of the interest earned from the IIP Fund, so the Board was surprisingly frugal in the way in which it actually operated given the amount of money it was dealing with.

The principal business of the IIB was concerned with the centre of excellence. A subcommittee was established to review potential areas of interest in Tasmania, to assess the potential for industry investment and sustainability, and to bring a proposal to the Board. This subcommittee considered the areas of Health Informatics, BioInformatics and a number of other areas of lesser degrees of interest. The Board engaged a scientist to explore the area of BioTechnology for a year, and to report on the potential for industry partners, but did not receive a favourable outcome.

The IIB had a limited lifetime under its terms of appointment, and eventually recommended the establishment of a Centre of Excellence in the area of Health Informatics, to be jointly administered with the University of Tasmanian. Unfortunately, subsequent to the Board’s termination, negotiations over the terms and conditions of this Centre broke down and it was not established. Instead the State and National Governments met and divided the remaining IIB funds between the Market Access and Partnership Program (MAPP) industry development funds that were administered through the Department of Economic Development, and the relocation of CSIRO ICT Centre to Tasmania.

Concurrent with the lifetime of the IIB, the TECC was selected to administer a Business Development Fund, that involved calling for submissions for ICT-based proposal from industry that had a strong connection with the Telstra Broadband Lab (B-eLab) in Launceston. There were approximately quarterly funded rounds of this Fund, and typically two to three projects funded in each round.

Chapter Four – Interviews and Vignettes

The main outcomes of that period of ICT investment in Tasmania may be summarised as:

 The raising of the status of the ICT industry within Tasmania. Consideration of directions for the ICT industry in Tasmania certainly reached greater heights in Tasmanian society than at any previous period;

 The raising of ICT skills and knowledge in Tasmania, through greater University and TAFE enrolments, greater use of computers in schools, training of teachers in ICT use, and business development by the TECC and Department of Economic Development;

 The raising of a number of local ICT companies to a level at which they were able to successfully compete at a national and international level;

 The attraction of a limited number of new ICT companies and initiatives to Tasmania;

 The creation of a number of government and semi-government bodies with an ICT focus, including the TECC, E-magine in the Department of Education, and the ICT Incubator;

 The provision of local employment for an increased number of locally trained and qualified people in the ICT and related industries.

Chapter Five – Findings

5.1 Introduction

This chapter presents the findings of the analysis as described in Chapter Three. Analysis of the data, and specifically the development and interpretation of the causal diagrams, has led to the identification of the themes that are presented in this chapter. Under each theme one or more relevant causal diagrams are presented, then the relevant concepts and their relationships are identified and discussed. Quotations are provided to support and illustrate the interpretations of the causal diagrams. The inclusion of quotations is intended to emphasise the grounded-ness of the findings in terms of being faithful to the transcripts, and the views and perspectives evident in those transcripts. This technique is also used to enhance the external validity of the interpretations and to increase the reader’s confidence in the findings (Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007; Miles & Huberman, 1994). The quotations are referenced using the interviewee’s assigned letter code (see section 4.2.1), followed by the line number/s in the transcript.

The research questions being address by this research include:

RQ 1: What are the input factors and perceived outcomes in a selected range of nationally funded ICT development programs in Tasmania over the period 1996 to 2005?

RQ 2: What are the relationships between these input factors and perceived outcomes in this selected range of nationally funded ICT development programs in Tasmania over the period 1996 to 2005?

Research Question 1 is addressed by the development of causal diagrams that explicitly show the causal relationships between the input factors and the perceived outcomes, as narrated by the interviewees. The extensive nature of the development of these causal diagrams across the transcripts of all interviews is demonstrated in Appendix E, and selected cases of these causal relationships are presented below in this chapter.

Chapter Five – Findings

Research Question 2 is addressed through the mapping of the relationships present in the causal diagrams, and by critically analysing these causal diagram across multiple cases.

5.2 Social Good

In announcing the membership of the board to oversee the Intelligent Island Board, the then Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Richard Alston framed the ICT investment programs for Tasmania in terms of it being the delivery of a ‘social bonus’ for Tasmania: “The Commonwealth Government is confident that the Telstra Social Bonus programs will deliver substantial benefits to the people of Tasmania” (Alston, 2000a, para. 5).

The Tasmanian Rundle Liberal Government’s policies to develop the economy were characterised by Interviewee F as being a “… very strong social policy program where they were trying to raise … the capabilities of Tasmanian economy …” (F: 46-48), and they noted that the policies were “… very far sighted …” and that “… there was a feeling of social goodwill and a desire to build up social capital that accompanied it” (F: 157-158).