Ian Dixon, who champions the cause of transformational cross-sector partnering in Australia and Asia-Pacific, tonight applauded the Federal Government’s budget 2013 decision to extend its Partnership Broker program.

Launched in 2009 by the Federal Government, the Partnership Broker program encourages partnering between schools, businesses and the broader community. In the 2013-14 Budget, the Treasurer announced that the Federal Government would extend this ground-breaking program for another year.

Ian Dixon, who runs DIXON Partnering Solutions, said the Partnership Broker program had proved an outstanding success. “A recent study identified that, across five regions, for every $1 invested by the Australian Government, Partnership Brokers have been the catalyst for up to $5.50 of created social value,” he said.

“The significance of the Social Return on Investment (SROI) evaluation is that it found partnerships supported through the program help partners to share resources and expertise to build each other’s capacity and capability. This delivers changes in the way partner organisations operate and support young people.

“These changes lead to benefits for young people, helping them to complete their schooling and make a successful transition to further education, training or work, which is consistent with the program’s objectives.

“In these tough budgetary times, it is encouraging that the Federal Government recognises that partnering provides a powerful mechanism for leveraging precious resources to deliver better results.”

Australia Joomla! website hosting business Alltraders has launched two hassle-free maintenance packages to defend neglected websites against malicious attacks.

Alltraders Chief Information Officer Michael O’Loughlin said websites left unchecked for an extended period of time may contain identified security holes that had been publicly broadcast. “Transparency is one the greatest strengths of Open Source Software, but it is also a weakness,” he said.

“As security issues are located, they are broadcast to the community, leaving a paper trail with the aim to enhance the collective community knowledge. However, this information can also be used maliciously.

“While the security team at Joomla is constantly developing new updates to protect the community against these attacks, the key is knowing when and how to upgrade. The many extensions installed on the website also pose a risk if left unattended.

“After consultation with our clients, we have developed two packages to protect websites against malicious attacks by keeping them up to date - while leaving customers free to focus on their business.”