The Andrews Labor Government is improving access to government services, taking action on the hundreds of confusing government websites and phone hotlines that cause delays and frustration.
The Victorian Budget provides $81 million for the development of Service Victoria which will simplify how Victorians interact with Government when it comes to basic transactions like paying your car registration.
Accessing government services and information can be excessively difficult to navigate and costly, with hundreds of phone hotlines and 538 different websites. The total current cost of this to the Government is $461 million and unless we act, it’s expected to rise to $713 million by 2026, with no extra benefit to the community.
Service Victoria will modernise the delivery of the highest volume government transactions, such as car registration, to ensure that members of the community can more easily access these services.
The investment will fund new systems, processes and digital platforms to deliver a better customer experience and tackle the rising costs of providing such services through multiple inefficient platforms.
This investment follows on from the $15 million in last year’s Budget that commenced planning on the project.
Quotes attributable to Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings
“Dealing with government websites is sometimes confusing, slow and annoying. Great customer service is a core function of any successful business, and government should be no different.”
“We don’t need a thousand different websites and hotlines for things like car registration, birth certificates and fishing licences.”
“Service Victoria is about eliminating the frustrations and delays and lowering the cost to the taxpayer.”
Reviewed 19 August 2020