Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

The delivery of service to citizens is of the first importance. Whether it involves accessing childcare subsidies, lodging a tax return or passport application, or identity verification, governments must be constantly looking at new ways of serving citizens. The most effective way to do this is through the use of digital technology. The coalition recognises this and in government put digital innovation at the centre of its approach to government services. Specialist ministers and the formation of the specialist Digital Transformation Agency were central to our approach.

By contrast, this Labor government has shown a distinct lack of focus in this area. There was not a single new digital service initiative in the October budget. Over 1,000 specialist tech jobs have been axed from Services Australia. There has been only one meeting of the data and digital ministers forum in over eight months. The Digital Transformation Agency has been moved from the centre of government and relegated to the bowels of the finance department.

Now we have the findings of the Thodey review. Mr Thodey and his fellow reviewers have made a valiant attempt to put on the government's agenda the ongoing need to drive service modernisation through digital transformation. This review puts the Minister for Government Services on notice for his lethargic approach to digital services delivery. Of course, as we know, he is much more interested in political payback exercises like his royal commission. But whether the minister cares or not, with around one million logins every day, myGov is indispensable. Australians rightly expect that the platform is seamless, simple and safe. The review is a vindication of the former coalition government's digital-first approach. The report makes clear that our investment of over $200 million in the enhanced myGov program put in place much-needed building blocks for a better myGov. The report lashes this government's slow progress on legislating in relation to digital identity, which it says is making Australians more vulnerable to privacy breaches.

Perplexingly, the current minister has refused even to state his position on the coalition's Trusted Digital Identity Bill 2021, an exposure draft of which we released well before the end of our term of government. As a result of his inaction and lack of interest, this vital policy area has been left hanging in the wind. This is deeply unfortunate because the capacity for a national digital identity to underpin improvements in government service and the delivery of services by private sector businesses is very considerable.

The chair of the myGov User Audit, Mr David Thodey AO, and his fellow panel members have done important work here. I hope that the Albanese Labor government will engage with it seriously, although the initial signs are not encouraging, with the minister dismissing suggestions about some changes to the institutional arrangements within government.

We saw in the last term of government what a powerful impact strong leadership from Canberra can have on the delivery of government services. Consider the rollout of the COVID-19 digital certificate. The former coalition government worked closely with the New South Wales government to integrate data held by the Australian immunisation register so that citizens could access their certificate by the Service New South Wales app. This was an Australian first and represented a significant step forward in allowing Australians to continue to live safely as we as a nation sought to deal with the virus and roll out the vaccine. It shows what can be achieved with a can-do attitude and a willingness to collaborate. The previous coalition government did similar work with other state governments. In the urgency of dealing with the pandemic, former silos between governments were broken down. We need to regain that spirit.

There are some concrete steps that all levels of government could be taking now. The first would be to ensure that there is consistent dialogue across jurisdictions at the highest level. Second, we need a comprehensive understanding of the digital services delivered by each level of government—federal, state and local—as well as the extent to which these services are integrated with each other. A third and pressing priority is that the Albanese Labor government must get on with delivering the national digital identity system. The potential is great. My hope for 2023 is that it doesn't take a crisis or another government report for governments across Australia to press ahead with this urgent work, and let's see some leadership from the minister.

See this speech in context