Transcript - Secretary Overview - Annual Report 2014-15
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_Y0EbUz7uw&feature=youtu.be
Transcript:
Hello, I'm Drew Clarke, Secretary of the Department of Communications.
Welcome to the online
version of the Department's 2014–15 annual report.
This has been a year of fundamental change for the Department… a year in which we changed
how the Department is structured and how we do our work. We are, in effect, a new
Department of Communications, very different to who we were last year.
We have a new focus, new priorities and renewed enthusiasm. We are now much more agile,
more efficient and more capable – better placed to respond to the rapidly evolving
communications sector.
2014–15 was not an easy year for us…redesigning and restructuring a Commonwealth
Department without disrupting its important policy and program work is a challenging task. But
we have done it, and I am very proud of what we have achieved.
We worked back from our Corporate Plan, shaping new staff positions that were better aligned
with our strategic priorities and then filled those positions with the right people. We established
the Bureau of Communications Research to identify emerging trends, measure and understand
the impacts of digitisation on the Australian economy, and to strengthen the department’s
capability for evidence-based policy advice.
We welcomed the Budget Initiative to establish a Digital Transformation Office within the
portfolio and we incorporated TUSMA into our Department.
We assisted in the establishment of the Children’s e-Safety Commissioner within the Australian
Communications and Media Authority. And we helped develop reforms to Australia Post.
We completed the restack program, which followed the successful national switchover to digital
television.
We continued our work with the National Broadband Network, implementing the Government’s
new approach, being involved in the review process and shaping the regulatory amendments.
We designed and delivered the $100 million Mobile Blackspot Programme and completed the
first phase of the Spectrum Review.
We’ll keep working on all of this as we become the first Commonwealth Department to
transition our entire IT infrastructure to a secure cloud service. Our staff will be more productive,
connecting with anyone, from anywhere, at any time with the latest technology.
We will continue to implement the outcomes of the Spectrum Review and provide advice on
communications infrastructure. We will implement another round of the mobile black spots
program and continue our policy work on the NBN. We will also undertake a review of the
Australian Communications and Media Authority, and continue our important work on digital
productivity.
Our new website www.communcations.gov.au has a section where you can have your say on the
policies we are developing that affect many Australians. I look forward to your comments.
And I look forward to another demanding and exciting year ahead, thank you.