Qld cabinet trials iPad document reader

The company behind the successful Domino's iPhone app has now developed an app for Queensland ministers to read cabinet documents on Apple's iPad tablet device.

The app was developed by Speedwell e-Business Solutions, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told an AIIA lunch today, saying that the app was trialled over the weekend.

"It not only makes Queensland the first jurisdiction in Australia to allow ministers to read their cabinet bag from an iPad, but it means for a state like Queensland, where we have a number of ministers from regional Queensland, that they can do it much more reliably from home rather than waiting for the last submissions to get couriered," she said.

"And, just as importantly, it means my ministers can be out and travelling about regional Queensland and still able to access those documents."

Under regular Westminster rules, most cabinet documents are not released publicly until 30 years after they are first considered. In 2009 in Queensland, however, the government passed legislation to allow documents to be published online after 10 years, and also provides some documents as soon as a month after they are considered by cabinet.

Speedwell director Brett Wiskar told ZDNet Australia that the app is similar to a document reader but with a lot tighter security, and the app is customised for each minister so that he or she may receive additional material specific to their portfolio if required. Bligh said that security had been of the utmost importance.

"The cabinet bag, I think, in every system of Westminster government is highly secure and confidential material, as you'd appreciate, and I really do want to congratulate Speedwell for the solution they've developed for us," she said.

"When we decided we wanted to do this, we looked around Australia for software — there is none — Speedwell developed it and I'm very confident we'll see other governments wanting to buy in."