ITWire

With an eye firmly fixed on returning to surplus the Treasurer turned his back on widespread tax cuts which might have encouraged technology investment by business, instead focussing on initiatives to overhaul the aged care sector, and introduce the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Both initiatives require significant information technology programmes.

The Tax Office will also be spending IT dollars. Over the next seven years the Government has committed to spend $467.1 million to implement the SuperStream superannuation reforms based on the Cooper Review.

New IT systems will be required by the Australian Taxation Office based on a $14.6 million scoping process which is underway. This year $62.7 million has been allocated for the ATO in 2012-13, with more to follow in the next two years

The Government will also provide $29.8 million over four years to establish the Manufacturing Technology Innovation Centre which will help forge networks within the sector and showcase new technologies. But for manufacturers themselves there were no additional innovation grants announced.

And while some might take comfort from a decision to increase tax breaks to raise the instant asset write off threshold to $6,500 which might encourage small businesses to invest in IT, there wasn’t a whole lot else to have the IT sector rubbing its hands in glee.

The NBN rolls on, as does the national e-health programme, but apart from a few NBN pilots there wasn’t much new spending. And with the winding back of the Digital Education Revolution, schools can’t expect further IT handouts.

Instead the Government is looking to technology to help raise revenues in the all-important search for surplus.

It is providing $41.3 million over three years to increase the number of data matching reviews with the bulk of that going to the Department of Human Services which will review an additional 75,000 high risk customers between 2012 13 and 2014 15 to identify and recover inaccurate payments.