Australians embrace government digital services

Australians have largely embraced digital services provided by government and would like more online services to be introduced in the future, research from Telstra indicates.

Nearly half (49%) of respondents to a survey conducted by the company rank the government's delivery of services and information online as good or very good.

Australians view online service delivery as quick, easy, environmentally friendly and convenient, and more than half (59%) of respondents consider government investment in online services to be a high or very high priority.

In future, Australians would like the opportunity to conduct more interactions online, including licence renewals, handling pensions and allowances,submitting tax assessments, paying government-issued bills and fines, requesting government information, and claiming rebates on medical expenses.

But while almost 60% of respondents trust the government to keep their private information safe, 79% acknowledge that online transactions involve risks of that information being stolen. Telstra said this shows that governments need to be aware of and address public concerns about the risk of data theft.

The report also proposes a new user-centric model for the delivery of government services, which Telstra calls the Syndesic Service Model.

The model involves giving users the ability to control their information, as well as separating personal information from aggregate, anonymised data needed for decision-making. It is also designed to allow for a seamless evolution towards increased automation in the provisioning of services.

Image courtesy Eduardo M.C. under CC