Ms Maria Graham:

They are part of the first phase of the digital agenda but I think we can go further. The Department is looking at that under our chief information officer to see the wider processes because some of that is at the front end. When we mentioned enforcement, for example, that is where we thought shared resources for local authorities in clusters might work, as the Senator said. Similar arrangements have been put in place in the waste and waste enforcement areas, for example, and have proved to be very useful in terms of having a number of authorities working together with one taking the lead. Obviously, there are a number of areas where that works. That can certainly work for the local authority system so we are interested in doing that.

Increasingly, more expertise is required in the area of coastal local authorities that will be moving into that area and sharing ecologists-----