8 April 2019
After a 15-month successful pilot under the Federal Government’s BRII challenge-based innovation, Itree (now Objective) was excited today to officially launch of Reach (now Objective Reach) – a secure inter-agency information sharing interface, aimed at protecting vulnerable children and families at risk across Australia.
The launch event was held at Itree’s headquarters in Wollongong, led by NSW Senator Jim Molan AO, DSC, who was thrilled that this innovative technology has been developed by a regionally based Australian SME business, in the heart of the Illawarra. Well known for his extraordinary life-time of service to Australia, Senator Molan spoke about the importance of technology solutions coming to the forefront to solve critical social challenges, like child safety. He acknowledged Itree as being an outstanding example of Australian RegTech ingenuity, supporting regional IT jobs growth.
“Itree’s development of Reach is a cutting-edge example of the extraordinary work Australia can do in IT, and by creating a tool to improve child protection they will also have an immediate impact for some of our most vulnerable Australians,” Senator Molan said.
In attendance was Hetty Johnston AM, Queensland Independent candidate for the Senate. As the founder of Bravehearts Foundation Ltd, Hetty’s passion and absolute determination to improve child protection throughout Australia, has been heard loud and clear for many years. Witnessing a demonstration of Reach this morning, Hetty commented: “Reach is a national and international game changer. This groundbreaking technology developed by Itree has been desperately needed in the child safety domain for many years. I am thrilled and excited to see it launched and in action today.”
Released in December 2018, Australia’s Fourth Action Plan 2018-2020 for “Supporting Families, Communities and Organisations to keep Children Safe,” was endorsed by nine child protection Ministers. The report recommended, “Building on the work of the Child Protection Information Sharing Project, the states and territories will improve protocols and procedures to share child protection related information between jurisdictions.”
Reach has been built from the ground up by Itree’s Australian based product and development teams, founded on secure technology that has been implemented across Federal and State government departments for over 23 years, in the domains of safety, compliance, regulation and enforcement. Reach has the ability to use advanced search and matching technology, finding relevant records within seconds through known information across States and Territories, in near real time. Proactive subscription notifications alert authorised users when new information becomes available.
The objective is for access to timely, shared information allowing agencies to make faster, more informed decisions that can lead to improved outcomes, such as early intervention, and prevention of further harm or risk. The Reach technology also has the ability to link together discovered information. Matched records are returned with weighted rating score, providing the confidence that matches are accurate. This will also improve over time, through embedded machine learning technology.
Reach caters for the sensitivities such as the Aboriginal status of children, and is controlled by a rigorous permissions-based access process, with a comprehensive audit history of all access, views and searches. It integrates with existing systems, removing any dependency on costly replacement platforms
Itree CEO, Ben Hobby, commented at the event: “The safety of those most vulnerable in our society is paramount to us all. Too many across our nation are affected by the devastating consequences of abuse. Our team has been thoroughly inspired by the potential to positively impact many lives, whilst developing the Reach platform. During the proof of concept we have worked with amazing individuals across several Government departments who are immensely dedicated to the outcomes envisioned for this technology.”
Further iterations of Reach are intended to link to other government sectors, including justice, police, intelligence, health and education, providing an enhanced single view of children and families at risk.
Learn more about Objective Reach.
About Objective
Objective Corporation (ASX:OCL) creates information and process governance solutions that are effortless to use and enable organisations to advance their own digital transformation; extending governance across the spectrum of the modern workplace to underpin information, processes and collaborative work-spaces.
Designed for the public sector and regulated industries, these solutions turn the imperative of compliance, accountability and governance into an opportunity to streamline business processes and deliver the innovative services that citizens expect.
Objective acquired Regtech software company Itree, in July 2020.
About Itree
Itree develops intelligent software for government agencies and regulators in Australia and New Zealand. Our solutions save lives and environments by improving safety, productivity and efficiency in the areas of regulation, compliance and enforcement. Itree was recently acquired by Objective Corporation, bringing together two successful Australian software brands, committed to delivering world class products for government, to enable outstanding community outcomes.
