Government services to go digital by 2025
Releasing the strategy in Canberra on Wednesday, Mr Keenan stressed that the government was taking the issues of security, privacy and accessibility seriously, adding that it was important to allay the understandable anxiety of the public.
“Australians expect the same experience interacting with government as they have with innovative, leading private sector organisations,” he said.
“They expect us to meet the highest standards of service delivery, customer experience, simplicity, flexibility and ease of use.”
“To hold ourselves to account, we will provide a yearly update on what we are delivering to meet Australians’ evolving needs and expectations,” Mr Keenan added.
The first phase of the road map will see the government pilot projects like, virtual assistants for welfare support, Digital ID trials, a Child care marketplace that will connect people to service providers and automatic enrolment of newborns into Medicare to reduce manual paperwork for new parents.
While the federal government’s automated debt recovery trial and its My Health Record (MHR) initiative have come under significant criticism, Mr Keenan said that Australia has traditionally had a very good track record on the digital service front.
“Over the last three years we have delivered transformational new services, including Airport SmartGates, myTax and Medicare.”
However, he acknowledged that the government had to learn some harsh lessons from the rollout of MHR and it was the government’s responsibility to convince the public to adopt the service without fear.
However, he also took aim at privacy advocates for creating unnecessary panic.
“Opt-out rate is running below 5 per cent, which suggest to me that most Australians feel comfortable with My Health Record.”
“We do need to draw a distinction between rational concerns and fearmongering based on false information … I’d hate for people to get consumed with the negativity about this.” he added.
“It’s up to the government to make the case and remind people that this is at the heart of what we do.”
The government has been forced to extend the deadline for the public to opt out of My Health Record by two months to January 31, over ongoing concerns about personal data shared between doctors could be at risk from cyber attacks and privacy breaches.