During a presentation at this year's OASIS Open Standards conference in Sydney, NSW Department of Commerce information architecture manager Ken Bullock said XML is seen as a universal data interchange but "where you can come unstuck is finding the meaning of the data".

"XML is easy to use but is only effective if done consistently [so] the governance of XML is what we're about," Bullock said, adding that real interoperability occurs at the semantic level.

"Semantics is conveying the meaning of information and the processes experienced in information [therefore] is a business issue," he said. "Information is a corporate asset anyone using XML needs to understand."

The NSW Government Chief Information Office, headed by CIO Paul Edgecumbe, is charged with the daunting task of integrating and rationalizing the IT systems of the state's 180-odd agencies, most being separate. Bullock said IT expenditure in NSW is "well over A$1 billion (US$744 million)", including $250 million for telecommunications services.

"To deliver services to 180 agencies the expectation is that we do this in an integrated way," he said, adding agencies like Health, Juvenile Justice, and Police are all running different systems.