9323 (2026). Camilla Belich to the Minister for the Environment

9323 (2026). Camilla Belich to the Minister for the Environment: What technology or software systems, if any, used by any department or entity for which the Minister is responsible have been identified as end-of-life, unsupported, or requiring urgent replacement since 27 November 2023, listed by department or entity, system name, purpose, and estimated replacement cost?

Hon Penny Simmonds: The Ministry for the Environment (the Ministry) has been modernising its infrastructure to move away from Datacom Cloud Services for Government (DCSG) since 2023. The Ministry is now in the final stages of migrating from the DCSG data centre and shutting down all systems based in New Zealand. This work is expected to finish by the end of April 2026. At that point, the Ministry will operate entirely in the public cloud instances of Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS. The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has two technology or software systems that require replacement. Microsoft CRM 2011 is an application management tool and may cost up to $4.3 million to replace over two to three years. The Emissions Trading Register is a secure online database that acts like a bank for carbon units, recording who owns them and tracking their transfer. In 2025, the EPA estimated a replacement Register could cost up to $32 million. The final cost will depend on the technology solution chosen following a procurement process.