The Victorian Government has joined the Australian Whole-of-Government Agreement with Amazon Web Services, granting state departments streamlined access to cloud-based solutions including artificial intelligence, security and quantum computing technologies.

Agreement details

The new agreement forms the foundation of the AWS State Purchase Contract and is tailored to meet Victoria’s specific policies and requirements. Through this arrangement, government agencies can access over 240 AWS cloud services, with 164 of these now assessed at the PROTECTED level under the Infosec Registered Assessors Program (IRAP).

Louise Stigwood, Managing Director for Public Sector, AWS Australia and New Zealand, said: “This agreement represents a milestone in Victoria’s digital journey. By leveraging AWS’s advanced cloud capabilities, the state can accelerate the delivery of innovative, secure, and cost-effective services that benefit all Victorians. Building on our recent AUD $20 billion investment in Australia, we’re thrilled to strengthen our long-standing and trusted partnership with the Australian Government and continue to support local economic prosperity through digital transformation in the public sector.”

Public sector transformation

The agreement is designed to accelerate digitisation and innovation across public services, including emergency communications and the justice system. The use of two AWS cloud regions in Australia – Melbourne and Sydney – enables customers to develop resilient applications. Systems such as VicTraffic rely on AWS’s multi-region design to ensure continuous operations during emergencies. These systems manage data from more than 50 sources using a fully serverless microservices architecture, and maintain recovery times of less than one hour. During high-risk flood and bushfire periods, these standards are raised even further to deliver vital, reliable information to the public.

The Coroners Court of Victoria has collaborated with AWS to implement artificial intelligence into the justice system. Using Amazon Bedrock, a prototype solution was created to address immediate needs while paving the way for broader judicial innovation.

“Working with AWS has been exceptional,” said Judge Cain, State Coroner of Victoria. “They demonstrated genuine understanding of our unique challenges in balancing technological innovation with judicial responsibility. Their team’s expertise in developing a bespoke and secure AI solution will enable us to create efficiencies and pioneer trauma-reduction technology that could transform how courts protect their workforce whilst delivering justice for Victorian families.”

Infrastructure investments

AWS has established a second cloud infrastructure region in Melbourne as part of its ongoing investment, expanding its national presence and supporting data-residency requirements for government agencies. The company has pledged an additional AUD $20 billion investment to further expand its infrastructure footprint across Australia. To further its sustainability commitments, AWS is developing three new solar farms in Victoria and Queensland with a collective capacity of over 170 megawatts. Across 11 renewable energy projects in the region, the company estimates annual generation of more than 1.4 million megawatt hours of carbon-free energy – enough to power 290,000 homes nationwide.

Danny Pearson, Minister for Economic Growth and Jobs, said: “AWS’s significant investment in Victoria demonstrates strong confidence in our state’s digital future – it will create jobs, drive innovation, and strengthen Victoria’s position as a leading technology hub.”

Technological upgrades

With growing demand for digital land transaction services – rising from 50 per cent in 2018 to nearly 100 per cent in 2024 – Secure Electronic Registries Victoria (SERV) partnered with AWS to redesign its core land registry system. The switch to a highly scalable, serverless architecture led to a 50 per cent reduction in performance issues, a system reliability rate of 99.99 per cent, and accelerated system upgrades measured in weeks rather than months.

Workforce and skills

AWS has delivered cloud skills training to more than 400,000 Australians since 2017. In Victoria, the company has focused on upskilling public sector staff to ensure responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence in government services.

Through a partnership with Swinburne University of Technology, AWS supports the Women in STEM Diploma of Applied Technologies – Cloud Technologies. The program blends paid work placements at AWS with part-time study over a week, targeting the skills gap and supporting gender diversity in technology roles.

The collaboration between the Victorian Government and AWS is designed to foster a more efficient, reliable and citizen-centred digital public service while supporting economic growth and skills development throughout the state.