When will our government catch on to the Internet of Things?

What exactly is the purpose of government? Should it include mitigating risks that apply at a whole of population level? High levels of suicide, perhaps, workplace deaths and injuries, minimising the risk of catastrophic climate change, mitigating population wide health problems like obesity or rheumatic fever and addressing the crisis in housing. Perhaps the government should even be ahead of the curve, anticipating issues even before the general public becomes painfully and personally aware of them. Of course proactive work in favour of the public is problematic when, as was hinted on National Radio recently public servants appear to be working for the policy needs of their Ministers and tending to deprioritise those of the wider public.
The Internet of things (IOT) has been around since about 1999 and the idea relates to the coming interconnectedness of all things digital. Driverless cars, or fridges that tell their owners when they need to buy milk or throw out the yoghurt are examples of the IOT in the popular imagination. And while some are arguing that the IOT is overhyped there is no doubt that the impacts will be huge and in fact are already with us.