Premier Nathan Rees today announced the establishment of a NSW National Broadband Network Taskforce, to accelerate the rollout of the network in NSW.
Speaking at the official opening of the CeBIT Australia 2009 Conference the Premier said that the NSW Government would pull out all stops to make the Broadband rollout as fast and efficient as possible.
"As Australia's leading ICT State, NSW is pitching to become the headquarters for the Commonwealth's National Broadband Network, and will work with the Commonwealth to pilot and roll out the NBN in metropolitan and regional NSW,” Mr Rees said.
"I will establish a combined cross government and industry taskforce, to prepare NSW for the National Broadband Network rollout.
"I have asked Graham Head, the Director General of the Department of Commerce, to chair this government and industry taskforce which will include representatives from the Departments of Premier and Cabinet, Commerce, State and Regional Development, Lands and Planning”.
Industry and Independent Experts on the Taskforce are:
- Professor Mary O'Kane, NSW Chief Scientist and Scientific Engineer
- Ms Rosemary Sinclair, Managing Director, Australian Telecommunications Users Group (ATUG)
- Dr Terry Percival, Laboratory Director, Neville Roach Laboratory, National ICT Centre of Excellence Australia (NICTA)
- Dr Alex Zelinsky, Group Executive, Information and Communication Sciences and Technologies and Director CSIRO ICT Centre
The Taskforce will focus on four key areas:
- Securing the NBN headquarters in NSW
- Investigating opportunities for leveraging the NSW Government's assets and purchasing power for the NBN rollout
- Ensuring the planning process for the rollout proceeds smoothly
- Promotion of the ICT industry, technology application and development and training through the course of the rollout.
"I have also asked the NSW Taskforce to investigate the establishment of NBN test beds in NSW, to test the next generation of applications and content in areas such as smart metering, education, housing and health,” Mr Rees said.