Malcolm Turnbull has outlined his vision to transform government services online and make using them “as cool and as interesting” as using popular social-media platforms such as Facebook.
The communications minister told people tuning into a 45-minute online question and answer session on Thursday, hosted by website OurSay, that he planned to overhaul the services as part of the work of the soon-to-be launched Digital Transformation Office.
More than six million Australians already have accounts on the website myGov, which allows access to a range of federal government services such as the Australian Tax Office and Medicare.
However, Turnbull flagged that myGov would be transformed into a single “portal” for all government services and correspondence (“that’s such a retro term, but anyway,” he added).
Each myGov user will be able to deal with potentially all government services across federal, state and local government, using a single secure digital address.
Turnbull said that as more data was fed into this digital identity it would become “the most important thing you have” and that as its strength grows it “obviously reduces fraud, but also enables an enhanced productivity because you’re not having to establish your identity again and again.”
Turnbull dismissed privacy concerns raised by some in the Q&A, instead drawing attention to the existing pervasiveness of social media platforms.
“You’ve got to remember if you’re getting a fantastic product online for free, that means you’re the product,” he said. “Or as the Onion, a very good satirical newspaper, said: who needs the CIA now that we’ve got Facebook?”
“The reality is that most of us put much more information onto platforms like Facebook than we provide to the government. Much vaster,” he said. “But nonetheless the information that the government has we have to protect, guard, keep very secure and use only for the appropriate purposes.”
He said the rethink of government service delivery online was needed because the public sector lacked natural competitors and often designed digital platforms that made it easier for government but not necessarily users.
Turnbull was also asked about the impact of the shift to digital services on regional and remote Indigenous communities, where laptop and internet accessibility was limited, electricity supply was patchy and English was not the first language spoken.
“We need to ensure there is adequate connectivity in remote communities,” he said, adding that the continuing rollout of the national broadband network and satellite services would make a vast improvement.
According to government figures, 899,000 premises had access to the NBN in March 2015. On Thursday, the company announced construction contracts would now be awarded based on performance, designed to speed up the rollout of its fixed-line network.
Website OurSay hosted the event, receiving 80 user-submitted questions over seven days. The five most popular questions were put to the minister.
When asked if the Digital Transformation Office is responsible for bringing the Australian government into the 21st century, he joked: “Some people have suggested it’s the late 20th century but, no! We are going to the 21st century.”
