The Commonwealth Government will establish a Digital Transformation Office (DTO) within the Department of Communications so that government services can be delivered digitally from start to finish and better serve the needs of citizens and businesses according to a joint statement from the Prime minister Tony Abbott and communications minister Malcolm Turnbul.
The DTO will comprise a small team of developers, designers, researchers and content specialists working across government to develop and coordinate the delivery of digital services. The DTO will operate more like a start-up than a traditional government agency, focussing on end-user needs in developing digital services.
The DTO will use technology to make services simpler, clearer and faster for Australian families and businesses.
People need to be able to transact services and access information anytime, anywhere. Like any other service industry, government should design its services in the most user friendly way. Interacting with government should be as easy as Internet banking or ordering a taxi through an app.
One of the DTO’s first tasks will be to ensure people no longer have to complete separate log on processes for each government service. Instead, people should have a ‘digital identity’, which they can use to log in to each of their services across the government.
The DTO will also work closely with State and Territory Governments to identify opportunities for collaboration, including ways to make better use of myGov.
By designing digital services that are consistent and simple to use, fewer people will need to come into a shopfront or make a phone call.
The Government is committed to protecting the personal information it holds about individuals and businesses. Maintaining the security and privacy of personal information is a vital consideration for the DTO.
It is worth noting that there is no new budget for the DTO, “the government already has significant expenditure on service delivery and it is anticipated that much of the DTO’s work will be funded through existing expenditure”.
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