The Australian government’s chief digital officer, Paul Shetler has resigned. Shetler was moved into the CDO role less than two months ago from his position as chief executive officer of the government’s Digital Transformation Office (DTO), which he held since July last year. Interim CEO, Nerida O’Loughlin said in a statement that Shetler had played an instrumental role in establishing the Australian government’s agenda to transform its digital presence and service delivery. “Paul’s wealth of knowledge and international experience in the field of digital services has been invaluable to the government’s digital ambitions,” O’Loughlin said. “His creativity and vision have been a great inspiration and have been crucial in helping the government to deliver the first phase of its digital transformation agenda. This has included the delivery of six transformed ‘exemplar’ services and the establishment of the highly successful Digital Marketplace,” said O’Loughlin. O’Loughlin said the agency expected to fill the chief digital officer role in the new year. Shelter was hand-picked by prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to led the government’s Digital Transformation Office (now the Digtal Transformation Agency)due to his 20 years’ experience leading complex IT and business transformation projects. He was director at the UK Government Digital Service between February and July 2015, and prior to that, he spent just over one year as chief digital officer at the UK Ministry of Justice. During this time he delivered four of the UK government’s 25 digital transformation exemplars. The Australian Government allocated $95.4 million in the 2015-16 budget to establish the DTO as part of its $254,7 million digital transformation agenda.Responding to the news, Labor’s shadow minister for the digital economy, Ed Husic, said the Turnbull government needs to explain the high turnover at the top of its “much-hyped” digital unit.“Malcolm Turnbull must now assure Australia there is strong leadership and the ability to get results at the top of the re-badged Digital Transformation Agency,” Husic said. “Mr Shelter was clearly restructured out of his chief executive role when the government revealed last month its supposedly ground-breaking move to re-name the Digital Transformation Office, the Digital Transformation Agency.” Husic said while questions have been asked about the speed at which the DTO (now DTA) has delivered results, it’s “agile revolving door” is working its way through senior managers.“It’s been remarkable to see the turnover in the number of senior managers over the course of the year. It’s been reported that five different senior managers come and go in a very short time. This is a concern,” he said. Related content brandpost Sponsored by SAP When natural disasters strike Japan, Ōita University’s EDiSON is ready to act With the technology and assistance of SAP and Zynas Corporation, Ōita University built an emergency-response collaboration tool named EDiSON that helps the Japanese island of Kyushu detect and mitigate natural disasters. By Michael Kure, SAP Contributor Dec 07, 2023 5 mins Digital Transformation brandpost Sponsored by BMC BMC on BMC: How the company enables IT observability with BMC Helix and AIOps The goals: transform an ocean of data and ultimately provide a stellar user experience and maximum value. By Jeff Miller Dec 07, 2023 3 mins IT Leadership brandpost Sponsored by BMC The data deluge: The need for IT Operations observability and strategies for achieving it BMC Helix brings thousands of data points together to create a holistic view of the health of a service. By Jeff Miller Dec 07, 2023 4 mins IT Leadership how-to How to create an effective business continuity plan A business continuity plan outlines procedures and instructions an organization must follow in the face of disaster, whether fire, flood, or cyberattack. Here’s how to create a plan that gives your business the best chance of surviving such an By Mary K. Pratt, Ed Tittel, Kim Lindros Dec 07, 2023 11 mins Small and Medium Business IT Skills Backup and Recovery Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe