Block Chain Technology and the potential benefits for Queensland.

source

I have been asked to present a discussion paper to the Queensland Opposition Party to introduce them to the Block chain and some possible benefits to Queensland. This is a first draft, I'd love to feedback. If you think other points could be included I'd love to hear them, and I'd most certainly credit you for any input into the final version.

Once this is presented to the QLD LNP, it'll also be presented to the Prime Minister so I need it to be interesting, but not super heavy.

---

Block chain Technology and the potential benefits for Queensland.

This paper is designed as an introduction as to what Block chain Technology is, some potentially useful projects currently underway that could benefit Queensland and dispelling some of the myths. The intended outcome of the paper is to have the Liberal National Party of Queensland to publicly announce that it will INVESTIGATE the use of Block chain Technologies to improve Queensland moving forward and cement its future as the Smart State an a place where technology companies what to do business through our acceptance of emerging technologies.

Block chain Technology in its most simple form is a distributed ledger of transactions. The most famous of these is Bitcoin and Ethereum. The technology is not limited to decentralised currency though. Referencing Dan & Alex Tapscott “The block chain is an incorruptible digital ledger of economic transactions that can be programmed to record not just financial transactions but virtually everything of value.” So with this in mind, we can then utilise this system to record IMPORTANT transactions that need a high level of trust and accountability. This could include citizen’s identity, criminal convictions, motor vehicle data, election ballots etc. Obviously its original core purpose of digital payments and transactions is also something that works perfectly with the Block chain.
With these possible uses, there are a number of projects currently underway that are tackling these issues. I am a big believer in not re-inventing the wheel.

Project 1: Power ledger
Power Ledger is Australia’s first Initial Coin Offering, and raised approximately $34Million from investors around the world. This project is based by successful advisors such as Bill Tai and Richard Branson.
The aim of this project is to take the dominance of the big energy retailers away and give small household producers the power to sell their excess energy to their neighbours.
There is already a trial running with Origin Energy on their micro-grid concept.
Their other area of interest is crowdfunded Asset generation. This allows small investors to purchase a share in solar farms, battery storage etc. Again it takes the power away from large retailers that have destroyed the marketplace and put it back in the hands of the people.
Website www.powerledger.io

Project 2: Horizon State
Horizon State is another Australian project designed to conduct large scale elections on the block chain. The benefit to this is that it is incorruptible, not susceptible to fraud and can deliver election results almost instantly. It removes the need to scrutineers, recounts and questions over people voting more than once.
As soon with the Same Sex Marriage survey, if this was conducted with a service such as this, the results would have been out already, there would be a much lower cost base and the margin for error or fraud would be greatly reduced.
Website https://horizonstate.com

Project 3: Civic
Civic is an older platform that is still being developed to help create secure identities. This will store all of the information of that person on the block chain. So data such as address, driver’s license, emails, medical records etc can be incorporated together. The main premise is to prevent identity theft.
Website https://www.civic.com

Queensland has always been known at the “Smart State” and as such we have a history of driving forward with technology and innovation. To be a state for the future, we now need to be ahead of the curve. If we were to be the first state in Australia, if not the world, to introduce electronic incorruptible voting it would be ground breaking. If we moved to a system of digital identity card that contain ALL of our information on 1 card, driver’s License, Medicare, Health funds, Concessions, etc, this would be revolutionary.

The benefits to Queensland’s economy would be staggering. To foster block chain development hubs in Queensland would bring business from around the world to Queensland. These can be decentralised, they need not be in Brisbane, and they can be in Dalby, or Cairns, or Charleville. While the term “Jobs and Growth” may be retired, it’s very much a possibility for this area. If this were bundled with payroll tax incentives or start up grants to bring down the initial costs, we could see investment from countries such as China, Russia, and USA etc who are looking for friendly governments to develop solutions for.

Within Queensland, there are over 180,000 university students. The vast majority of these are aware of decentralised movements, such as Bitcoin and the Block chain. They want things to be done differently, they want Queensland to be brought into the 21century and to be a leader in the world for this kind of innovation.
In the 2016 Labour Force data released by the ABS, IT and media professions account for less than 2% of our employment in Queensland. So much effort is directed towards retail, mining and construction that the smaller industries such as IT are being left to their own devices and are often moving to territories that embrace technology and foster change such as China and Russia. For the IT industry to be ranked lower than Arts and Real Estate shows that we have not put any significant interest towards this industry and trying to capitalise on its huge growth potential.

In conclusion, this paper is designed to introduce the party to the infinite possibilities that the block chain can provide to Queensland and some of the Australian innovations that are already taking place. The desired outcome is just to have the party investigate this further as it may prove to be an ace up the sleeve to combat the highly unionised left wing that are only concerned with the construction and mining industry. The IT industry is screaming for attention, and can be utilised as a point of difference in the next state election. To offer real change, drive real innovation and provide real jobs that doesn’t require massive amount of state capital investment is something that in these times of economic frugality is so highly desired.

Article written by Micheal Armstrong
Reference sites:
https://powerledger.io
https://horizonstate.com
https://www.civic.com
http://www.australianuniversities.com.au/directory/student-numbers/
http://www.tai.org.au/sites/defualt/files/Ogge%20Swann%202016%20QLD%20Jobs%20Growth%20FINAL%20w%20Cover%20v2.pdf