PlanBuild portal $6.5M over budget, Hobart Council demands fee waiver

PlanBuild cost $6.5 million more than budgeted. Hobart City Council voted unanimously to stop paying the $83,000 annual fee until the system is fixed.

Why it mattersBroken government IT systems waste public money. They slow down essential services like building approvals. This affects everyone from homeowners to developers.

AustraliaTasmanians face ongoing planning delays and costs while the state government works to fix a system that was supposed to make approvals faster.

✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 4 d ago

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Kevin Rudd. A close-up professional portrait of an older man with white-grey hair and a short grey beard, wearing dark-framed rectangular glasses and a dark suit with a white shirt, smiling br

✓ ThemandarinPower & Policy

Rudd flags imminent US-Australia AI technology deal

Kevin Rudd says the US and Australia will soon announce a technology deal on AI.

Why it mattersAn official AI deal between the US and Australia could speed up investment and talent flow into Australia's tech sector.

File image: Aerial view of dense bushland and open plains beyond

✓ The Canberra TimesPower & Policy

Family calls for inquest into ACT prison officer's death

The family of Ashley Martin, an ACT corrections officer who died by suicide in 2024, is demanding a public coronial inquest into alleged systemic failures.