Thread by @NewtonMark

Important question, @TimWattsMP: in 2019, Information Technology is absolutely crucial for interacting with civil society, including government services. But govt agencies, using 1990s thinking, have outsourced it (incompetently) as “non-core business.” How will your govt fix it?

@TimWattsMP There is no longer any realistic expectation that the govt can reliably and competently deliver services, because it all relies on poorly executed outsourced IT, and the APS is too de-skilled to manage the contracts (so they sometimes outsource contract management — poorly!)

@TimWattsMP This has been a problem that has been building for years. Manifests itself in big failures like Census, ATO, myGov, NBN, Robodebt; but it’s just as important to all the micro interactions we never hear about, which are routinely hopeless.

@TimWattsMP I harp on IT, but it’s not even limited to that. The ATO doesn’t know how to do audits anymore, outsources them to consultants from the same Big-4 accountancy firms that advise businesses on how to avoid tax. Previous ATO audit experts now work for businesses to help them pass!

@TimWattsMP Outsourcing has hollowed out the APS, moved high-value skill to private consultancies, left agencies as deskilled husks that lack the ability to handle complexity. Serious impediment to professional service delivery.

What’s Labor’s plan to fix the broken APS? /end