Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Government Services. Why is it important to support the delivery of government services through the myGov platform? What are the current financial circumstances of the myGov platform?

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Members of the House would be aware that myGov provides a secure and convenient way to access 15 government services. For example, there are 19 million myGov accounts which are linked to Medicare, and 97 per cent of the claims which people made in the last 12 months for disaster relief were done through myGov. On average, every day 1.4 million people use myGov, which is more than people who use public transport to commute to and from work. Also, myGov helps protect people's personal information. I believe that myGov will be developed as a trusted system which will be used to verify someone's identity, avoiding the need for private-sector organisations to pile masses of data which then can be inconveniently hacked.

The myGov user audit, which was done this year as part of our election policy, has proposed ideas which we're currently considering to improve reliability and functionality and provide a user-friendly experience. It's built upon David Thodey's independent review of the Australian Public Service, and I think it adds to the roadmap of how myGov can achieve a better vision for the delivery of government services and build trust between citizens and their government. The audit thinks that it's an indispensable national digital infrastructure.

This is a good story and good news, but there is a catch. The previous government decided that the job would be done by 30 June this year. The Francis Fukuyamas, the End of History people, believed that history would end on 30 June and that we would reach Utopia. There was no need to do any more—mission accomplished, as a former American president said! And when you look at the 2021-22 portfolio budget statement, there's $92 million dollars in 2021-22—good, tick—and $80 million in 2022-23.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Nationals will cease interjecting.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

But when you look for the next year, there's nothing. The real import of this—

Opposition member s interjecting—

And despite the howls from those opposite—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will resume his seat so I can hear from the member for Hume.

Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A point of order on relevance, Mr Speaker. The government had a budget in October. They could have included—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Resume your seat, member for Hume, that is not a point of order. I ask the minister to return to the question.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The summary of this issue, and the reason it is important to people listening to parliament, is that the previous government was absolutely guilty in its budgets of cooking the books. They would pretend that they needed to make no provision for the future, and in that way they were misleading the Australian people on every budget night. And that habit has to stop.