The Australian Government published the budget document for the period 2018-2019, which states that it would allocate some 700,000 Australian dollars (equivalent to about $521,000 USD) to the Digital Transformation Agency to explore ways of applying blockchain technology in government services.
The budget plan document, which reports on the allocation of financial resources for the study of the blockchain, was released on Tuesday on an official website of the Australian government. The plan was proposed by Deputy Scott Morrison, Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia and Senator Mathias Cormann, Minister of Finance of the Commonwealth of Australia.
In the “Digital Future of Australia – Blockchain” section of the document, it is specified that the money will be allocated to the Digital Transformation Agency, which is responsible for making it easier for people to deal with the government and helping the government to transform services to make them simpler, clearer and faster.
The Government will provide $0.7 million in 2018-19 to the Digital Transformation Agency to investigate areas where blockchain technology could offer the greatest value for government services.
Australian Government
In the document, it was also indicated that these financial resources will be obtained from the existing methods and activities of the agency.
The Australian government is not at its first attempt to implement blockchain technology
Essentially, the purpose of the budget allocation is to drive research and exploration into blockchain technology and the ways in which it can be used to optimize government’s services, simplifying them and making them faster.
The country has also been characterized by a relatively open stance to the use of such technology and even to the adoption of cryptocurrencies. Despite this money allocation, other sectors of the Australian government have previously ventured into the use of blockchain in some areas.
Such is the case of the Australian House of Representatives and Tax Office (ATO) executives who at the end of last year were discussing the potential of technology in tax collection. Moreover, in November 2017, the Australian government announced funding of $6 million USD for an energy and water distribution project, also powered by blockchain technology.
