Good morning ladies and gentlemen.
It is good to see you here on this brisk Canberra morning for a workshop that brings together a diverse range of strategic leaders from across government and industry.
I would like to welcome the spatial industry providers who are strongly represented by:
- members of the Spatial Industries Business Association;
- the Co-operative Research Centre for Spatial Information;
- spatial services companies;
- peak bodies; and
- government agencies.
You are, of course, all here with one common topic for discussion – geospatial data.
This workshop is an ideal platform to assess how the Australian Government’s spatial data capability can increasingly meet the needs of business.
In October last year I had the pleasure of visiting and addressing many of you at the 2010 Spatial@Gov Conference.
I came away from that conference impressed by what I saw and heard talking with exhibitors and seeing the technology displayed at that conference – and I also came away more convinced than ever of the importance of geospatial data and technologies to Australia’s future.
In my view this sector is not an “optional extra”, rather it is the means by which we will grow Australia’s prosperity in coming decades.
Spatial information will increasingly grease the wheels of Australia’s economy, drive innovation and increase productivity.
At last year’s conference I touched on some of the ways in which spatial technologies touch our lives through tools such as GPS, not just in terms of households but also in terms of business – big and small.
In some ways spatial information has become so much a part of our lives already that we overlook the simple fact of its importance in areas such as:
- insurance;
- health;
- utilities;
- education;
- emergency management;
- environment;
- exploration;
- transport;
- finance;
- defence;
- statistics;
and the list goes on.
The size of the list in some ways reflects the quality of the work already being undertaken in this field.
Geoscience Australia (GA) with its work in compiling the pre-competitive data that in many ways sets Australia apart as an investment destination for minerals and petroleum exploration is one stand-out example.
Perhaps less known is the tremendous support GA also provides in emergency management – something we have sadly seen far too much of in recent times.
In the midst of these disasters, staff from Geoscience Australia have mobilised quickly and added their expertise to efforts at home in parts of Queensland and indeed abroad in Christchurch.
This work will have both an immediate benefit and one over the longer term in terms of generating understanding that could lead to a mitigation in the scale and destructiveness of such events in the future.
Having noted the good work underway I would also say that there is more to be done.
That is why we are reviewing Australia’s Spatial Data Capability and I thank Dr Vanessa Lawrence, Director General and Chief Executive of the Ordnance Survey – Great Britain's national mapping agency for her ongoing work in this regard.
Your workshop discussions will also feed into this review.
Your collective input is welcome in the planning and development of a national spatial capability.
Defining spatial information
Although it’s well-known by this audience, the wider community doesn’t always understand what we mean by “spatial information”.
“Location” and “place” are terms that people often find easier to understand.
What we are talking about is the power of linking information to places – and most importantly – sharing that information.
A lot of information collected by the public sector contains location-based characteristics, such as an address.
When different types of information about a particular location can be held up to each other, better understanding follows.
This, in turn, enhances effective decision-making about a particular place.
Commissioned by COAG in 2007, the National Government Information Sharing Strategy is an important whole of government approach to these issues.
By getting the information we need, and sharing it effectively, governments at all levels will be better able to target service delivery to where it is most needed.
The economic benefits of such streamlining – of a robust spatial information industry – are substantial.
Economic benefit
The only quantitative measure of the economic benefit of spatial information to date is the 2008 ACIL Tasman report prepared for the Spatial Information CRC and ANZLIC [the Spatial Information Council].
This report noted that National Accounts do not capture the full extent of the spatial information industry.
Nevertheless it estimated that spatial information industry revenue in 2006-07 could have been around $1.37 billion, with industry gross value added at around $682 million.
And that estimate was conservative.
The report also found the industry contributes between $6.4 billion and $12.5 billion to GDP each year.
More and more, spatial information is cropping up in sectors of the economy where it’s having a direct impact on growth.
Innovation
Innovation will accelerate this economic potential.
It will add to our capacity to meet shifting market demands and respond to change.
In this interconnected knowledge economy, ideas and information are only a click of a mouse away.
So it’s vital that Australia continues to innovate.
By its nature, spatial information enables innovation.
Many industries and sectors apply spatial information to innovate and establish a market edge.
Another example of GA’s work highlights this point.
Geoscience Australia has been at the forefront of demonstrating the effective application of spatial information in developing the first comprehensive national assessment of Australia’s energy resources, best known as the Australian Energy Resource Assessment (AERA).
The AERA covers everything from fossil fuels and uranium to renewable energy sources.
But the AERA is more than a snap-shot of Australia’s energy resources.
It’s a national prospectus for energy investment and exports, and it all relies heavily on information inputs and location-based analysis.
This prospectus, as with GA’s precompetitive data, has the potential to drive new investment and further growth.
Productivity
Let’s now consider the third way in which spatial information is vital to prosperity in Australia – productivity.
The ACIL Tasman Report said the constraints on access to data may have reduced the direct productivity impacts in certain sectors.
This could have wiped a significant percentage from GDP and consumption in the 2006-07 financial year.
Across Government departments and agencies a lack of cohesion impinges on the delivery of location-based information.
This is evident in the incompatibility of data and a lack of a consistent framework to assist service delivery and spatial integration across agencies and industries.
The net result is inefficient access to – and use of – data, often leading to the duplication of effort.
The question, therefore, is how do we turn this around?
The answer lies partly in the National Government Information Sharing Strategy I spoke of earlier.
Government initiatives are striving for greater coordination on information-sharing and management.
These initiatives will enhance productivity gains in many ways.
For instance, better information-sharing is at the heart of the “One APS” reform agenda.
Australia’s “Gov 2.0” policy is another example.
The Government released its response supporting all but one of the recommendations, which it deferred for further consideration, in the Government 2.0 Taskforce Report.
The report and its recommendations went to the idea of using new collaborative tools and approaches “to achieve more open, accountable, responsive and efficient government”.
But the report also makes the point that this is not just about new technology – it is also about “a new approach to organising and governing.”
The implementation of the recommendations from this report is being led by the Department of Finance, but clearly it involves the whole of the public service.
After all, data collected by – or for – the public sector is a national resource which should be managed with public purposes in mind.
These issues are especially important in regional Australia.
Detailed spatial data and the mapping capabilities it allows will help bridge the gap between regional and metropolitan areas.
The rollout of the National Broadband Network – a 21st Century link between people, businesses, services and markets – illustrates this point.
Location-based information will support the targeted rollout of the NBN in regional Australia.
Conclusion
Ladies and gentlemen, spatial information has never had so many positive applications.
The continued development of this sector is pivotal to Australia’s prosperity, innovation and productivity.
That is the challenge and this conference is tasked with finding some of the solutions.
This is a place, I hope, where some of the greatest minds in the business can mesh.
Thank you.