Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Can I begin by saying that I find this to be a very audacious motion. When I say 'audacious', let me be clear: what I mean is that it is completely lacking in any credibility. It's another example—and there are so many in this Chamber and the main chamber—of those opposite coming to this place and complaining about the state of affairs that we see, forgetting, it seems, that they were in government for a decade and achieved so little. Those opposite come in, claiming that the last budget didn't do enough: 'The last budget didn't lead to digital nirvana. We were so measured. We achieved so much.' It really is a group of people who, after an election loss, don't seem to have mastered the skills of introspection. I think they could do with a little bit of looking back at their track record in this area, and so many others, with a little bit more brutal honesty. It would do them a little bit of good.

Let's look at Services Australia. I can speak about the impact of Services Australia on real people in a real-world situation in my electorate. The suburb of Maribyrnong and a number of surrounding suburbs experienced terrible floods in recent months. Dozens of homes were inundated, more than a hundred people were left homeless and hundreds of people were severely impacted. The day after the flood, many streets were still impassable due to deep mud, which was being cleaned up by the council and other agencies. Furniture was piled up in front of every home. This was the case for street after street. It looked like a war zone.

When I went doorknocking in that area the day after those streets were opened, I was working with people to access their emergency payments on the Services Australia portal, and what I found was that it worked well. It was very user-friendly. There were two things this government had done. Firstly, it had done a remarkable job, I think, of giving people access to their emergency services payments very rapidly. All they had to do was to answer a few simple questions on their phone, and they had their payment within 15 to 30 minutes. It was the payment system at its best. It was a very user friendly IT system. It wasn't completely without any difficulties, and that's why it was critically important that Services Australia had people in the community response centre just up the hill—two people, there for all business hours and often beyond business hours, helping people navigate that system. So Services Australia was operating a way that was using the digital interface. It provided people to help households who were facing very difficult circumstances—direct interpersonal help—to complement that if needed.

Contrast that with the previous government. We hear that they were so measured and strategic and achieved so much. Look at what happened to the people in Lismore. Days and days and days after the floods, people were still wondering, 'Where's the Army?' Days and days and days after the floods, they weren't getting their emergency payments. In the Maribyrnong floods, which were the major floods in my electorate, within 24 hours of the first disaster relief payments being activated, 658 claims had been paid. This was the digital payments system being used. It was speedy, it was timely, it was reliable and it was user friendly. So there's that. This government has actually operationalised Services Australia in a way that has helped people in the most difficult of circumstances, and for those opposite to go here after their performance in the previous term is quite bewildering.

But this government also has a longer term plan. As the previous speaker on this side indicated, this government is delivering on election promises by delivering a strategic plan. A report to the government will be delivered which provides an audit on myGovID, a system which the previous government had partially implemented but which, far from being so strategic and so well delivered, was something which was actually very fragmented in practice. This government is delivering on its election commitment to better deliver that system.

We are in the process of delivering a framework. It is absolutely critical to get these kinds of systems right. You can't rush them. We are setting out a process where we are going to be able to use best practice digital technology in a range of areas—again as the previous speaker indicated, in health biometrics and digital wallets—but you have to do it correctly. Services Australia is the direct interface for many people. It is critical that it is timely, user friendly and trustworthy, and this government is investing the resources and will get it right.

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