The nation’s largest smart city project, Switching on Darwin, has successfully been completed on schedule and within budget.

The project aims to make Darwin a world-leading smart city with the addition of 912 new LED lights, 138 new CCTV cameras, 39 new hotspots to extend free WiFi, 24 environmental sensors, smart parking sensors, along with an audio system in the Mall.

Perth City council is pressing ahead with a trial of facial recognition technology to be installed in cameras across East Perth, despite concerns from privacy experts and local residents.

The network of 30 cameras is set to go live within weeks, amid complaints there has been no proper local consultation since the plans were revealed last year.

According to Aussie business owner Danny Gorog, “an app is for life, not just for Christmas”.

And Gorog would know, being the former director of app design giant Outware Mobile, and now the founder and chief executive of Snap Send Solve, a Melbourne startup helping Australian citizens report issues from their neighbourhood to their local council.

A rash of unpopular and forced council amalgamations across NSW over the last three years has combined to produce an unholy mess on the technology front, after a state Auditor found gaping holes in IT management and governance.