Information Technology Reference
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their predicted chances of becoming long-term
unemployed. The classification is used to identify
the predicted level of employment assistance that
person requires and the corresponding level of
funding the government provides to the client's
private employment service agency (McDonald
et al, 2003).
ICTs are also central components in imple-
menting a targeted approach to client compliance
such that those clients profiled as greater risk of
being overpaid receive greater levels of scrutiny
(Henman, 2004; Henman & Marston, 2008).
Centrelink has also considered targeted report-
ing mechanisms for unemployed persons. Cur-
rently, all unemployment recipients are required
to physically report to Centrelink each fortnight,
but ICTs enable Centrelink to potentially segment
the unemployed population according to levels of
“trustworthiness” and differentiate their reporting
requirements.
In addition to using ICTs for the implementa-
tion of social policy, ICTs are used
in
the social
policy process, for example, for policy develop-
ment and analysis. As with the use of ICTs to
implement policy, this use of ICTs can be under-
stood as the development and mobilization of
“technologies of government” for the purposes
of achieving “political rationalities”. Given that
Centrelink as a service delivery agency is not
responsible for policy development, analysis or
evaluation, its use of ICTs in this area is limited.
However, the two major policy agencies for which
Centrelink provides services -Australia's Federal
Department of Families, Housing, Community
Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) and
the Department of Education, Employment and
Workplace Relations (DEEWR) - make extensive
use of ICTs for policy analysis, development and
evaluation.
Computer modeling is a major use of ICTs
in policy development. Australia's social policy
departments make use of a number of highly
developed computer modeling tools. Due to the
complex nature of social security laws and their
interaction with similarly complex taxation laws,
computer modeling is an essential component in
policy development. It helps policy makers iden-
tify the likely consequences of policy proposals.
Since the late 1980s a computer modeling tool
has been in use in Australia for assisting in the
development of social security policy. It indicates
the financial effects of a proposed policy on an
individual
type
of family. It can also show how the
Australian population as a whole will be affected
by a proposed policy. In doing so, it identifies
winners and losers under a given policy, and the
size of the population affected. Consequently, the
model also identifies the overall financial and po-
litical cost/benefit to government. More recently,
FaHCSIA has made use of EDGE, the failed expert
system mentioned earlier, for policy development.
While EDGE was deemed unsuitable for policy
administration, it also has a policy development
tool built on the fact that its rule base replicates
legislation. By adjusting the rule base to reflect
proposed policy change, the policy modeling tool
of EDGE can identify possible conflicts in legis-
lation and impacts on hypothetical clients. With
these computer modeling tools policy options can
be considered, their effects determined and poli-
cies refined to achieve the desired fiscal, social
and political outcomes. However, by embedding
policy in complex computer modeling, their use
institutes problems for political and policy ac-
countability and the capacity for citizens to engage
in the public debate (Henman 2002).
Statistics generated by ICT is a second key use
of technology for the purposes of policy analysis,
development and evaluation. Given that policy
making is fundamentally based on information,
the use of ICTs to generate, store, circulate and
analyze largely quantitative data is an important
feature of ICT use in government. Centrelink's
client administrative data provide an important
resource for policy analysis and development.
Since 2004, a representative sample of Centrelink
client data has been collated to form a longitudinal
dataset for policy research by government policy
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