Here are a few I have come across the last week or so. Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.
General Comment
-----
We seem to be moving into the ‘silly season’ so less news around but still the odd morsel. Do enjoy!
-----
https://www.miragenews.com/territory-labor-government-innovating-and-strengthening-nt-health-system/
December 7, 2020 12:40 pm AEDT
Territory Labor Government Innovating and Strengthening NT Health System
NT Government
Northern Territory Health, Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT (AMSANT) and Northern Territory Primary Health Network (NT PHN) have partnered to increase the use of digital health technologies.
Digital health enables better coordinated care and better informed treatment decisions.
The NT’s population has some of the most vulnerable people in Australia with high levels of social disadvantage and a high burden of chronic disease.
One of the most significant outcomes for day-to-day provision of health services to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic was the uptake of tele-health services in both urban and remote settings.
-----
‘Over 91% of consumers had at least one discrepancy in their medication records.’
A pharmacist researcher has warned about high prevalence of medication record discrepancies at a national conference, pointing to digital records as a solution
Medicine-related problems are common because using medicines is our most common healthcare treatment, Professor Amanda Wheeler told delegates at the National Medicines Symposium (NMS), hosted virtually by NPS MedicineWise on Monday.
Over one million Australians experienced an adverse medicine event in the last six months—and some groups are at higher risk, including those with long-term conditions, on multiple medications, older people and migrant populations.
Medicine discrepancies can cause particular problems, said Professor Wheeler, a pharmacist and mental health researcher with Griffith University in Queensland.
-----
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/digital-id-finally-comes-to-mygov-558791
Digital ID finally comes to myGov
By Justin Hendry on Dec 10, 2020 6:59AM
Forgetting your password just became a thing of the past.
Australia’s 15 million-odd myGov account holders can now ditch their password and log into the online services portal using the federal government’s myGovID digital identity offering.
In a major breakthrough for the long-running Govpass digital identity program, the Digital Transformation Agency this week quietly pressed go on the public release of the credential on myGov.
myGovID – a reusable digital identity credential for citizens that works like a digital equivalent of the 100 point ID check – joins myGov’s existing two factor authentication sign-in option.
The integration means users are now able to sign into myGov using either a one-time code in the myGovID app (as long as they have connected the two platforms) or continue using a password.
-----
HealthMatch raises $18m as patients go online for clinical trials
Natasha Gillezeau Reporter
Dec 8, 2020 – 12.00am
HealthMatch, an Australian start-up that has built a digital platform to connect patients with upcoming clinical trials, has raised $18 million in an investment round led by venture capital fund Square Peg.
It is the third external funding round for the company, with Square Peg following on from leading a $6 million round last year and Tempus Partners also returning for the third time, having led its first funding round in 2018.
The three year old company has experienced a rapid growth in its user numbers as more patients jumped online to hunt for the latest scientific research to treat their conditions. In June it had 8000 people using the platform, which has grown to 80,000 at the start of December.
HealthMatch founder and chief executive Manuri Gunawardena said she had not planned on raising more funds this year, but the rapid growth meant increased investment in staff and the platform was required, and new strategic investors would be beneficial. She is also planning some Asian expansion.
-----
Govt agencies face annual cyber security audits for next five years
By Justin Hendry on Dec 10, 2020 5:21PM
On the recommendation of a parliamentary committee.
A parliamentary committee has called for cyber security reviews to become a more permanent fixture on the national auditor’s annual work program after a string of subpar audit results.
The finding is contained in the accounts and audit committee report [pdf] into cyber resilience, which said existing accountability mechanisms under the protective security policy framework (PSPF) were “limited”.
The PSPF requires that agencies self-assess against 16 requirements – one of which is the Top Four and Essential Eight controls – each year using a ‘maturity model’ and report the results to the Attorney-General's Department (AGD).
The report, released on Wednesday, recommends that the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) conduct an “annual limited assurance review” into the cyber resilience of Commonwealth entities.
-----
https://medicalrepublic.com.au/questions-over-mandatory-vax-reporting/38341
10 December 2020
No fees for mandatory vax reporting
COVID-19 Government Vaccination
Vaccine providers may soon have to report all government-funded immunisations – including against COVID-19 – to the Australian Immunisation Register or face penalties, but the government has no plans to reimburse providers for their efforts.
The federal government has introduced a bill for an amendment to the Australian Immunisation Register Act which would enforce mandatory reporting of COVID-19 vaccinations from 1 March 2021, and all other vaccinations funded under the National Immunisation Program from 1 July 2021.
Speaking on the bill in parliament, Health Minister Greg Hunt said while reporting of vaccinations to the Australian Immunisation Register was currently voluntary and data for childhood immunisations was high, the reporting for adolescent and adult vaccines was far less complete.
Associate director of the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance Dr Frank Beard said the COVID-19 pandemic and potential cost of COVID-19 vaccination were the main drivers for the government’s shift in policy.
-----
https://www.hinz.org.nz/news/540481/HiNZ-announces-Fellowship-Programme.htm
HiNZ announces Fellowship Programme
Monday, 23 November 2020
eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
Health Informatics New Zealand
announced a new Fellowship Programme at a networking event in Auckland on
November 19.
The Fellow of HiNZ Programme recognises Digital Health leaders who demonstrate
significant digital and data achievement and contributions, leadership and
service for the health and disability sector of New Zealand/Aotearoa.
A group of Founding Fellows will be appointed by the HiNZ Board and announced
in early 2021. The Founding Fellows all have a recognised legacy of service and
leadership in digital health.
Next year, an annual application process will begin for Fellows, with the first
round of applications assessed and appointed by the Founding Fellows and the
HiNZ Board.
-----
Telehealth start-up Coviu banks $6m after record growth
Yolanda Redrup Reporter
Updated Dec 7, 2020 – 12.50pm, first published at 12.29pm
Telehealth start-up Coviu's growth has been accelerated by up to four years on the back of the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing it to raise $6 million to support its continued expansion.
The business, which was spun out of the CSIRO in 2018, grew from having 400 video visits a day on its platform to 25,000 at the height of the crisis.
Chief executive and co-founder Silvia Pfeiffer said the pandemic had put a rocket under the business.
“We were on a growth path before and were continuing to grow on a steady, nice incline ... but it was slow,” she said.
"[Without the pandemic] we would have done it, but it would have been harder work and we’d have stuck with it."
-----
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/govts-public-sector-data-sharing-bill-enters-parliament-558770
Govt's public sector data sharing bill enters parliament
By Justin Hendry on Dec 9, 2020 12:51PM
After two years of consultation.
The federal government has introduced long-anticipated data sharing laws to parliament in a bid to make it easier for the public sector to share data within government and the private sector.
The Data Availability and Transparency Bill 2020 was introduced by Government Services Minister Stuart Robert on the second last sitting day of 2020.
It follows more than two years of consultation by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, including 76 public roundtables, following a 2018 Productivity Commission report.
An exposure draft was released in mid-September, introducing a requirement for agencies to seek consent before releasing personal information unless unreasonable or impractical.
The government had previously said that consent should only be encouraged, as a consent-based model for data sharing “could create biases in data”.
-----
Govt introduces cyber incident response takeover bill to parliament
By Justin Hendry on Dec 10, 2020 12:21PM
Ahead of July 2021 start date.
Legislation that will give Australia’s cyber spooks the power to defend networks and systems of critical infrastructure against cyber attacks - much to the alarm of global tech companies - has been introduced to parliament.
The Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure) Bill 2020 was introduced by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton on Thursday, just a month after the release of the exposure draft.
The bill will give effect to an “enhanced regulatory framework” for critical infrastructure and systems of national significance, building on the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act (SOCI) passed back in 2018.
It will apply to not only the electricity, gas, water and port entities currently regulated under the SOCI Act, but communication, “data storage and processing” and financial services and markets.
-----
App review: matchFit - addressing mental health with a little help from sports stars
The app features video presentations from past and present soccer players
8th December 2020
matchFit is a UK-developed mental health app themed around soccer — or football as it’s known there.
The app has the common tools of CBT exercises and a mood tracker but couched in the language of sport, with video presentations by current and former soccer players.
It was developed at the University of Birmingham in conjunction with the Street Soccer Foundation, a charity run by ex-player Keith Mabbutt.
Admittedly, a cricket-themed mental health app would be more useful in Australia even though the app does feature content from English ex-cricketer Jeremy Snape.
But for young people interested in soccer, it may stand a better chance of securing their engagement than typical mental health interventions.
-----
NeuroNode technology creator Control Bionics to list on ASX
A cutting-edge Australian-US tech firm in the disabilities sector will list on the ASX on Monday.
Creating a communications sensor for people unable to speak or barely move, such as sufferers of motor neurone disease, cerebral palsy and strokes, and accident victims, has been the passion of Queenslander Peter Ford.
The former Seven Network journalist, newsreader, and later NBC and CNN anchor, and NASA correspondent enjoyed a distinguished Australian-US media career that included covering Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf, and, after 9/11, reporting from Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Ford had another passion, technology — learning computer programming in the early 1980s, and in the early 2000s he turned his mind to technology for the disability sector and gained a contract with the US Veterans Administration in 2007.
-----
07 Dec 2020
New implants to help detect and prevent brain seizures
Researchers from Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, have developed new implantable devices equipped with machine learning to help prevent seizures and monitor patients after brain surgery.
The researchers will now use a $1 million Australian Government grant awarded to Australian company Anatomics to develop a ‘smart helmet’ to monitor brain swelling in stroke and traumatic brain injury patients.
Researcher at CSIRO’s data and digital specialist arm, Data61, Dr Umut Guvenc said traumatic brain injuries affect over 69 million people worldwide , including 700,000 Australians , with one in three likely to develop chronic epilepsy due to the high frequency of seizures.
“Monitoring brain activity post-surgery is especially critical to a patient’s recovery as seizures can regularly occur, often leading to patients developing epilepsy,” Dr Guvenc said.
-----
https://www.itwire.com/health/researchers-develop-device-to-help-prevent-seizures-in-patients.html
Tuesday, 08 December 2020 10:19
Researchers develop device to help prevent seizures in patients
Researchers from Australia's national science agency, the CSIRO, say they have developed new implantable devices with machine learning that can help to prevent seizures and monitor patients after brain surgery.
A statement from the agency said the scientists involved would use a $1 million Australian Government grant given to the firm Anatomics to develop what they called "a smart helmet to monitor brain swelling in stroke and traumatic brain injury patients".
Dr Umut Guvenc, a researcher at CSIRO's digital arm Data 61, pointed out that traumatic brain injuries affected more than 69 million people globally, including 700,000 Australians.
One in three of those affected was likely to develop chronic epilepsy due to the high number of seizures.
-----
https://marketplace.service.gov.au/2/digital-marketplace/opportunities/10124
Whole Agency Electronic Documents Record Management System
Opportunity ID 10124
Deadline for asking questions Wednesday 13 January 2021 at 6pm (in Canberra)
Application closing date Friday 15 January 2021 at 6pm (in Canberra)
Published Tuesday 8 December 2020
Panel category Change and Transformation
Overview
Deliver an Electronic Documents Record Management system solution for the Australian Digital Health Agency to comply with the National Archives Act 1983. Ensuring compliance against all relevant ISO standards and legislative requirements are met for a compliant EDRMS in the context of a Federal Government Agency.
Estimated start date
1 March 2021
Location of work
New South Wales
Offsite
Working arrangements
On site at least 1 day a week for the period of the engagement or as required by the project team (subject to Covid-19 restrictions).
Length of contract
12 months
-----
Friday, 11 December 2020 12:30
More Australians going to mobile-only for making calls at home, says ACMA
By Peter Dinham
A trend in people shifting from fixed to mobile communications is continuing, according to the telecommunications industry regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
The ACMA has just released its interactive report - Mobile-only Australia: living without a fixed line at home - looking at the take-up of mobile devices by Australian adults over the last six years.
The ACMA said on Friday that data for the 12 months to June 2020 shows 60% of Australians are mobile-only for voice calls at home (with a mobile phone but no landline), and this has doubled from 29% in 2015.
“However, we are less likely to rely solely on a mobile service for our home internet connection, with only 16% of Australians accessing the internet at home via a mobile network,” the report says.
-----
Thursday, 10 December 2020 11:55
Improved access to key online services during COVID, says ACCC
Increased broadband speeds have improved performances of popular streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube during mid-September and October when compared to a pre-COVID baseline of February 2020, according to the ACCC.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s second Critical Services Report - released on Thursday, reveals that in the first two weeks of October, Netflix’s daily download speed improved to be between 6% to 7% higher than its February 2020 baseline. Over the same period, YouTube’s daily download speed was between 1% to 4% higher than its February 2020 baseline.
Results also show that streaming services, Netflix and YouTube had typically faster download speeds than in the first Critical Services Report, which showed performance during May 2020.
The Critical Services Report tracks the performance of the NBN fixed-line broadband connections that support streaming and video conferencing services.
-----
Huawei Australia still waiting for 'formal' NBN, 5G ban notifications
By Ry Crozier on Dec 9, 2020 5:12PM
Says it is 'well placed' to critique 2018 telco security law.
Huawei Australia says it is still awaiting “formal notification” of its bans from the NBN and 5G networks, reiterating long-standing calls for its equipment to be “independently tested” and its cyber security processes reviewed.
Security fears saw Huawei banned from bidding for NBN work back in 2012 and then from participating in 5G networks in mid-2018.
The 5G ban in part leant on the Telecommunications Sector Security Reforms or TSSR, which addressed the threat posed by suppliers of equipment and managed services located in foreign countries.
With a statutory review of the TSSR now underway, Huawei Australia said in a submission [pdf] to that process that it is “well placed to provide first-hand experience of the implementation and impact of the legislation … as one of a handful of corporations to be negatively targeted”.
-----
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nbn-co-to-undertake-200m-it-transformation-558790
NBN Co to undertake $200m IT transformation
By Ry Crozier on Dec 9, 2020 5:20PM
Largest such project in its history.
NBN Co is set to embark on a $200 million project to simplify and modernise its IT architecture, touted as the “largest IT transformation” it has ever undertaken.
The project, which was first reported by CommsDay, is codenamed the ‘systems digital roadmap’, with works divided among three pillars.
Chief information officer Debbie Taylor said in a statement to iTnews that the program is about “digitising NBN Co”.
Taylor said it would help the company to “drive new pathways for how we work as an industry, building new capabilities quicker and more cost effectively across the telco industry, with the aim of delivering better services for customers.”
-----
https://www.itwire.com/telecoms-and-nbn/nbn-co-starts-rollout-of-disaster-satellite-service.html
Wednesday, 09 December 2020 11:55
NBN Co starts rollout of Disaster Satellite Service
National broadband network operator NBN Co has unveiled the first NBN Disaster Satellite Service in Namadgi ACT, designed to boost the support offered to communities and emergency services personnel during and in the aftermath of emergency events, such as bushfires and floods.
It is the first service to be rolled out though funding provided by the Australian Government’s Strengthening Telecommunications Against Natural Disasters (STAND) package to increase the number of temporary emergency network services.
The services provide additional support for disaster-affected communities where terrestrial communications networks are temporarily impacted due to power loss or damage to communications infrastructure.
NBN Co has been awarded a grant of $7 million to install nbn Disaster Satellite Service units at designated emergency management sites and evacuation centres across the country.
-----
NBN Co kicks off transformation
NBN Co has kicked off a three-year $200m digital transformation program, greatly simplifying its tech stack in a bid to better resolve customer issues and hold onto tech talent, as the company moves on from the “build” phase of its project.
Customers across the country will have their network experience and services enhanced by the tech overhaul, according to NBN Co chief information officer Debbie Taylor, who told The Australian that NBN was also aiming to use the transformation program to retain its top-end talent.
The NBN has moved from an intensive network infrastructure build operation to an upgrade and maintenance agenda, and the company building it wants to ensure it remains attractive for engineers.
“This is really about attracting and retaining the best people,” Ms Taylor said. “The war on talent is not anything that’s new, but what is new is that we have moved through the last 10 months or so of a global pandemic, which has meant that a lot of companies have been reconsidering their digital capabilities and demand for these skills and resources is significantly higher than when we started this plan. We’re competing against many more companies for the same skills.
-----
Tuesday, 08 December 2020 15:14
Lack of a national plan for 5G could threaten global competitiveness of Australian farmers, miners, report warns
By Peter Dinham
Australian farmers and miners could become less competitive than their global rivals unless a national plan is developed to expedite 5G coverage to rural and regional Australia, according to a new report jointly commissioned by Huawei Australia and the Telecommunications Association TelSoc.
The Connecting Rural and Regional Australia report from UK-based telecoms research company OMDIA says that 5G technology is already being used by farmers and miners in Europe, North America and Asia to operate their businesses more efficiently.
But according to the report, by contrast 5G coverage in Australia remains “primarily focused on urban areas with no clear time-table in place to deliver 5G coverage to regional and rural Australia where our farmers and miners generate much of the country’s wealth”.
“The highly competitive international agriculture market demands continued improvements in productivity, as does the appetite of the growing global population,” the report says.
-----
Australian broadband has gotten faster during the pandemic
ACCC’s latest broadband report shows that providers achieved up to 98.5% of maximum plan speed on the NBN.
Senior Writer, Computerworld | 7 December 2020 6:00 AEDT
The latest ‘Measuring Broadband Australia’ quarterly report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has found that delivered broadband speeds have gotten faster. That follows efforts by the Australian government and the broadband providers early in the COVID-19 pandemic to boost internet performance to support increased home usage by workers and students caused by the lockdowns.
In October 2020, retail services providers (RSPs) achieved between 84.8% and 98.5% of maximum plan speed on the National Broadband Network (NBN) during the busy hours of 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Users on NBN experienced an average download performance of 95.7% of plan speeds, down to 94.9% during the busy hours. The report for September showed a lower average download performance of 88.5%, down to 87.6% during the busy hours.
Delivered broadband speeds have been increasing sice the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This increase in the average download speed is largely due to the NBN provisioning more connectivity virtual circuit (CVC) capacity for RSPs and to overprovisioning the download component of some speed tiers by about 10% to 15%. “This change is clearly evident in our results. Across October, 53.9% of NBN services we monitored had an average download speed higher than the plan speed,” the report said. The average upload performance ranged between 83.0% and 90.2% during all hours across RSPs.
-----
Great balls of fire: space capsule back safely
A manmade fireball that fell to Earth in the South Australian desert was seen and heard by more than 80 instruments that were placed across 600km of outback country around Woomera.
The Hayabusa2 capsule briefly turned into a fireball as it re-entered the atmosphere 120km above Earth in the early hours of Sunday, creating a blaze of light visible over the state’s north.
The slender, suitcase-sized capsule landed safely with its precious cargo of asteroid dust after a remarkable space journey. The capsule has travelled 5.2 billion kilometres over the past six years, and took two samples last year from the 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid Ryugu.
The capsule was released by its orbiting “mother’’ spaceship, Hayabusa2, in a precise operation in which it landed safely on the ground at the end of a parachute in the Woomera Prohibited Zone at 4am on Sunday.
-----
Enjoy!
David.
