Centrelink’s National Support Office has hosted the first ever ‘Celebrate IT’ exhibition, to highlight the achievements of Centrelink’s Information Technology Division.
Centrelink’s Chief Information Officer, John Wadeson, said Centrelink is one of the largest IT employers in Australia, with around 2,000 staff located nationally.
“The Celebrate IT 2008 exhibition provided a great opportunity for us to showcase the state-of-the-art IT systems that allow us to serve millions of Australians on a daily basis,” Mr Wadeson said.
“Distributing more than $63 billion in financial support to 6.5 million customers each year is no small feat.
“IT is such an integral part of Centrelink’s business because it supports staff in providing efficient and effective services to customers.
“I’m proud Centrelink’s IT capability gives the Australian Government confidence in entrusting us with such a significant portion of public money.”
Centrelink is also one of Australia’s leading IT users, ranked forth in Australia for the size of IT network distributions.
"Our IT program is at the cutting edge of technology, particularly in the area of security and data matching,” Mr Wadeson said.
“On a typical day, the IT group will support over 30,000 desktops, 400 LAN servers and a network of 22,000 servers.
“The Celebrate IT exhibition has been a fantastic opportunity to raise the profile of our IT services as well as celebrate the success of the teams who work in this area.
“We had a visit from the Australian Government Drought Bus during the exhibition, which is a great example of the innovative ways Centrelink uses IT to ensure fast and consistent access to our systems from remote locations.
“The vehicles are fitted with Next G technology satellite phones, laptops and printers, allowing staff to assist customers in drought affected rural communities and during times of crisis, such as the Queensland floods.”
The two-day event was held in Centrelink’s National Support Office in Tuggeranong, and included demonstrations of current and future IT initiatives for Centrelink.
