Dr Heather Smith has been appointed as secretary of the Department of Communications and the Arts, replacing Drew Clarke, who was made chief of staff for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. [ + ]

The Victorian Government has commenced a pilot of its new VicFreeWiFi network in Ballarat and Bendigo, with plans for a launch in the Melbourne CBD in early 2016. [ + ]

Treasury has implemented a virtual desktop virtualisation technology from Nutanix to allow employees to work on crucial tasks, including the Budget, from any location on any device. [ + ]

The AEC has contracted SMS Management & Technology to deliver AWS implementation for its public websites, in order to help the commission support major traffic spikes during election periods. [ + ]

There is a growing tide of concern that the troubled NBN rollout is being sidelined in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's much hyped 'ideas boom'. [ + ]

There are three critical aspects to ensuring the federal government's 'cloud first' policy adoption does not see productivity being sacrificed for cost savings: visibility, optimisation and control. [ + ]

Australia's Veterans and Veterans' Families Counselling Service has launched a pilot offering mental health counselling services over Skype video or audio links.

The government is holding information sessions this week for citizens and organisations seeking to help shape the government's commitments for open government reform. [ + ]

Most governments have largely completed the migration to e-government — involving automated existing processes — but now must tackle the hard work of moving towards digital government delivery. [ + ]

Infosys has opened a service delivery centre in Parramatta to provide digitally enabled back-office services to clients including the NSW Government. [ + ]

Telstra is the next big corporate player to announce investment in silicon quantum computing. [ + ]

The majority of Australians are dissatisfied with the availability of digital government services, and four in five are not making use of the services for a variety of reasons, an Accenture survey shows. [ + ]

Silver Chain Group's Lancelin Primary Health Centre has joined the Emergency Telehealth Service network, a government initiative to improve access to expert medical advice for health workers in regional areas. [ + ]

The federal government's National Innovation and Science Agenda (NISA) has been met with widespread approval from industry leaders across the ICT sector. [ + ]

Airservices Australia will work with the industry on a program aimed at revamping the organisation's operations and improving service delivery, according to acting CEO Jason Harfield. [ + ]