Australian Taxation Office appoints new tech chief, as it looks to use AI for fraud detection
By Si Ying Thian
Public sector tech veteran Mark Sawade will take over as Chief Information Officer and Chief Security Officer of the Australian Taxation Office.
From March 11, Mark Sawade will be appointed as the Chief Information Officer and Chief Security Officer of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Image: Mark Sawade's LinkedIn; ATO
From March 11, Mark Sawade will be appointed as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Security Officer of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
This follows recent news of ATO looking to procure an artificial intelligence (AI) fraud detection system, and enhance internal capabilities in data and analytics to improve service delivery and cost savings.
The news was announced by tax commissioner Rob Heferen to ATO staff in a note issued a few days ago, as reported by Australian public sector news, The Mandarin.
The search for the new CIO has been going on since last May, when the previous CIO left. Matthew Hay served as Acting CIO since then.
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Public sector tech veteran
Sawade previously served as the CIO at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF).
Prior to that, he has extensive experience helming data, innovation, tech applications and services at other Australian public sector agencies, including education, home affairs, and statistics.
His leadership at DAFF saw multiple initiatives led by his department as part of the agency’s broader ICT modernisation strategy.
One of which was moving from on-premises to cloud infrastructure which enabled automation of service provision and quicker scale up of innovations.
The other initiative was a strategic sourcing program which comes after “over a decade since the department engaged with the technology market” to modernise the ICT capabilities of the agriculture agency.
ATO’s tech work under spotlight
The Mandarin pointed out the significance of the CIO role at ATO – as the ATO plays the intermediary agency between taxpayer contributions and social security payments.
“The technological nexus between tax and what is now Services Australia [the government agency in charge of government payments] is one of the more critical links because agencies cross-check and data-match customer details to detect fraud and failure to declare income, employment or changed circumstances,” reported The Mandarin.
As both state and federal governments have called for greater two-way data sharing for improved service delivery and policy decisions, ATO and other agencies are expected to engage in more data exchange and sharing moving forward.
ATO’s corporate plan from 2024-2025 also underlined one of its key focus areas to responsibly expand the agency’s use of automation and AI to increase operational efficiency.