myGov to be single entry portal after agencies told to get on board

“To support citizens to navigate government services and to drive efficient and effective digital investment, Government agrees to a unified and pragmatic whole-of-government approach to myGov as a primary front door.”

This will “curb the proliferation of new front doors, consolidate the existing digital ecosystem, and identify opportunities to reuse systems and reduce duplicative investment”.

Resistance from agencies wanting to offer services directly from their own websites has meant there are only 16 services offered through myGov, despite multiple attempts over a decade to require agencies to use the myGov portal.

The move emulates the states, all of which have consolidated their services around central platforms. Service NSW has the most mature service portal, with over 1000 services that can be accessed.

Passport renewals, election enrolment, name changes and even the census are being considered as early candidates to be made available through myGov.

This will bring together in one dashboard a person’s various engagements with the federal government, enabling personalised notifications and updates. People will be able to update addresses and details in one place, and application forms for emergency relief and benefits will be able to be prefilled with personal data.

The portal will also host various federal credentials, such as Medicare, enabling them to be digitally presented.

The timing of the consolidation remains uncertain after the government noted that “seamless and connected services” are “constrained by government organising structures which makes achieving the full extent of this recommendation difficult and costly”.

“This includes the interplay between key parts of program legislation, secrecy provisions and statutory requirements that prevent end-to-end information sharing and connected experiences.”

However, the response was vague on concrete actions to remedy these impediments.

The government agreed to “exploring pathways” for joined-up delivery of government services and to “discovery work to investigate what, if any, are the legislative barriers in realising the potential of myGov.”

Several of the Thodey reforms have already been undertaken. A new digital document execution service now means not having to find a physical witness for a statutory declaration. The response said this technology can be reused, clearing the way for services such as passport renewals to be undertaken on myGov.

Former NSW digital minister Victor Dominello hosted the first meeting of the new myGov advisory board this week.

The board agreed there was a “definite need” to improve myGov as a piece of national infrastructure.

“While there is no “wrong door” into government, Services Australia has the opportunity to be the front door, where the red carpet can be rolled out for easier access to services,” Mr Dominello said.

He signalled a more iterative approach to improvements.

“We cannot boil the ocean. The idea is to roll out new initiatives. Regular small wins and a quicker delivery cadence and a great user experience is critical to building trust.”

Work is also to commence on broader integration with state services. A working group has been created to develop an ambitious five-year plan to consolidate both federal and state services.

The plan would expand beyond the audit’s recommendation, covering digital service integration across all sectors, leveraging work on life events, digital identity and verifiable credentials, and the development of interoperable standards.