Victoria pays for NBN cyber jobs to head to Melbourne
The Victorian government has dipped into its AU$508 million Premier's Jobs and Investment Fund to bring the National Broadband Network's (NBN) National Operations Centre to Melbourne.
To be situated in the Docklands, the Victorian government claimed over the weekend that the move would see 700 jobs brought to Melbourne over four years.
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"NBN's Cyber Security Operations Centre ... will be the first line of defence against cyberthreat to the NBN," Victorian Minister for Employment Jacinta Allan and Minister for Small Business, Innovation, and Trade Philip Dalidakis said in a statement. "It provides a collection of services for the delivery of detection, identification, triage, and management of cyber events and incident response."
Dalidakis claimed that the move reinforced Victoria's reputation as "Australia's tech hub".
On Friday, the Australian government announced that it had appointed Shirley In't Veld to the board of the company responsible for rolling out the National Broadband Network. In't Veld replaced Alison Lansley, who along with Dr Kerry Schott was one of two NBN board members to remain after the incoming Coalition government sacked all other NBN Co board members.
"Alison played an important role in the evolution of NBN over the past three years, and leaves the business pointed in the right direction and with good momentum," NBN chairman Ziggy Switkowski said. "We thank her for her contribution and wish her well."
In't Veld is currently on the board of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), which is now chaired by former Telstra CEO David Thodey, Asciano, and Perth Airport. She was previously managing director of Verve Energy in Western Australia.
NBN also announced over the weekend that it would double the speeds available on its fixed-wireless network, with customers able to get 50Mbps down and 20Mbps up.