Draft released for Australia smartcard rollout

29.06.2006
Draft standards and an interoperability framework for all Australian public sector agencies has been released in preparation for the federal government's billion dollar smartcard rollout.

The three new whitepapers announced Thursday address what Special Minister of State Gary Nairn considers to be the biggest stalling point for a national smartcard rollout - interoperability.

Speaking at the Australian Smartcard Summit 2006, Nairn expects the draft standards and implementation framework to be finalized by year's end.

"Interoperability among agency systems is still the biggest hurdle in implementing the network," he said.

"If agencies can communicate it will enable them to work together and the best way to achieve value for money and interoperability is through national cooperation around standards for a consistent and unified approach."

Nairn said this is where the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) has an important role to play, pointing out that the agency has already done a lot of groundwork in this area.