Qld budget pumps $380m into Go Card refresh

The Queensland government will pour $379 million into the late-running refresh of its Go Card public transport electronic ticketing system.

The funding, drawn from today’s 2018-19 state budget, will be provided to the Department of Transport and Main Roads over the next four years.

The new statewide system will provide long awaited “customer facing functionality including payment by contactless debit and credit cards, mobile phones and wearables in addition to go card and paper tickets”.

As much as $89.2 million will be spent over the next financial year, when an announcement of the technology provider for the new system is expected.

The state has been looking to refresh the deal since 2014 to introduce transport technology innovations such as contactless payments, which a number of other states have started moving towards.

Cubic Transportation Systems - which also delivers London’s Oyster card system and NSW’s Opal card - currently holds the contract to operate Go Card.

Other IT in the budget

Elsewhere in the budget, the government will make $164.2 million available in 2018-19 for “core infrastructure to support digital hospitals, replacement and enhancement of core clinical systems to support frontline health service provision and decision making at the point of care”.

It is expected this will “ensure continued efficiency of the Queensland Health system”, and follows a similar $135 million investment in last year’s budget for core infrastructure.

The state’s 2015 ehealth investment strategy earmarked as much as $1.2 billion for IT infrastructure, clinical systems and business systems over five years.

A further $35.6 million is earmarked for IT projects across the across the Metro North Hospital and Health Service and the Sunshine Coast University Hospital during the financial year.

The Department of Justice and Attorney-General will receive $17 million over three years, including $8.3 million in capital during 2018-19, for a new online blue card application system.

Blue cards are required to work with children. The funding makes good on the Palaszczuk government’s election promise to streamline the blue card process. 

“These funds will deliver an automated application system, improved processing times, and the implementation of the our promised ‘No Card No Start’ laws,” the state’s attorney-general Yvette D’Ath said in a statement.

“This investment will also deliver an organisational portal to assist employers to better meet their obligations under the system and remove the requirement for individuals to be linked to an employer before applying for a blue card, allowing Queenslanders to be job-ready.”

The Crime and Corruption Commission will receive $16.3 million to “enhance the processing of digital evidence and to provide for a contemporary information security platform”.

It will also receive $1.7 million to continue the development of new integrated case management system, and $2.6 million to replace computers and other IT equipment.

Other measures funded in the budget for 2018-19 over forward estimates include:

• $21.3 million for the Department of Education to complete its redevelopment of the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority’s IT infrastructure, including for the new senior assessment and tertiary entrance system.
• $13 million for the Public Trustee of Queensland to invest in its business transformation program and other digitisation projects.
• $8.9 million to support Queensland Ambulance Service technology.
• $5.9 million to provide Queensland Police with an additional 1400 QLiTE mobile devices.
• $4.5 million for the Department of Local Government, Racing and Multicultural Affairs to develop a new grants management system to improve the administration of grants to local governments.
• $4.3 million for the Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women to continue the development of a new client information and case management solution.
• $2.8 million for the Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women to continue the social investment IT program and the child and family services IT program.
• $2 million towards the initial design and plan stages of a single TAFE Queensland IT network and wi-fi upgrade.