Auditor-General finds major Western Australia IT projects over budget

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A new report by the Auditor General has revealed most of the WA government's IT projects are taking longer and costing more than initially promised.  The report has called for better transparency in the upgrades and rollout of public sector systems.

Transcript

00:00Whether it's tagging on or registering a firearm, the State Government has a number of projects

00:10in place to transform the public sector to the digital age.

00:15The Auditor-General looked at ten and found eight will come in over budget and late.

00:21Initial cost estimates to government by public entities was $2.6 billion.

00:27The current estimated cost to deliver these ten projects is actually $4.2 billion.

00:32So it's $1.6 billion extra.

00:35What project is this State Government going to deliver on time and on budget?

00:39And if anybody knows one, call it out now because I cannot remember the last one.

00:45The report found the upgraded smart writer system to use a debit card or phone is more

00:50than six years behind schedule and about $7 million over budget.

00:56The Premier says new opportunities have come up.

00:59It's still a $60 million program.

01:01We've been given the opportunity to capture other issues, which expands the scope of that

01:07and may expand the cost, but no decision has been made in relation to that.

01:10The firearm licensing and registry system is two years behind schedule and $10 million above

01:17the original cost.

01:19It's still not working.

01:20And yet we have seen people being asked to spend hours trying to register on there.

01:27Information on the status and cost of these projects is not readily available to the public.

01:33Even the Auditor-General's office say they had trouble accessing it because of inconsistencies

01:38in annual reports and budget papers.

01:40Where there's good reporting and where there's transparency, we found that those projects

01:45performed better.

01:46And also decision makers can spot a problem and they can bring it back on track.

01:50As far as the Government committing to increasing transparency, the Auditor-General says that's

01:56a work in progress.

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