Improved online government service delivery and engagement
Digital Economy Goal: by 2020, four out of five Australians will choose to engage with the government through the internet or other type of online services.
Effective participation in the digital economy by government can reduce costs, increase customer satisfaction and promote innovation. Encouraging people to access government services online, and making it easier for them to do so, increases people’s digital confidence and digital literacy. This makes it easier for government to facilitate online engagement and collaboration with citizens to improve service delivery or provide input into policy and regulatory matters.
A recent report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers for the UK Government found that face-to-face transactions cost £10.53 (about $A16), the cost of a telephone engagement was £3.39 (about $A5.15) and engagement with the government by mail cost £12.10 (about $A18.40 compared with the cost of an online transaction cost at just £0.08 (about $A0.12).
There has been some significant progress in Australia to expand delivery of government services and programs online. Recently, the government released a draft paper, Strategic Vision for ICT, that outlines a long-term plan for the government’s use of ICT to support increased public sector productivity.
However, it continues to be the case that fully completing many transactions with government, even where they are commenced online, still requires the client to visit a government office. For example, currently about 62 per cent (69.5 million) of Centrelink transactions are made onsite, which involves people travelling to a Centrelink office. This is inconvenient and costly for many clients, noting that four out of five clients of government services have indicated a preference for not having to visit a government office to access a government service. It also means that Centrelink must maintain much larger client waiting areas and transaction counters.
As part of a “Tell Us Once” initiative, the Australian Government is undertaking investigation and testing of some preliminary developments to improve people’s ease of use and access to Australian Government services. In addition, the Department of Human Services has committed to significantly expand the range of services it makes available online. Finally, to promote online engagement with government and provide opportunities for greater public participation in the development of policy and service delivery, the Australian Government has released at an online catalogue of government data at data.gov.au.
