The Western Australian government has launched a digital strategy that aims to transform the way government services are delivered to the community.
The strategy is underpinned by four priorities, including improving services, informing decisions, strengthening cyber security, and being digitally inclusive.
The plan would make it easier for the public to interact with the state government, as well as address security issues, according to innovation and ICT minister Don Punch.
“The McGowan government is committed to reorienting government services and regulatory processes around the needs of people and businesses — rather than expecting people and businesses to organise themselves around inflexible government structures,” he said.
“The digital strategy will expand our existing cyber resilience and capability to manage critical cyber security risks, which are occurring worldwide in both unprecedented frequency and magnitude.”
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The plan will also aim to remove barriers to inclusion by connecting more people to quality and fit-for-purpose internet services, enabling affordable access to digital devices and data, promoting digital skills, and promoting technology that has been inclusively designed.
One key objective is the integration of government services, so that when a person experiences a significant life event, including births and deaths, the ‘customer experience is seamless’.
Western Australians will be able to log in to the state’s whole-of-government portal using their ‘trusted digital identity’, allowing them to access services from one place, the paper noted.
“With your consent, participating WA Government agencies will share information, so that you don’t have to tell us the same thing again and again,” it said.
Meanwhile, whole-of-government data and analytics capabilities will be built to provide insights into social, health, environmental and economic issues. The strategy said these data insights would ‘inform the design, evaluation, improvement and delivery’ of government services.
“Importantly, these insights will also help us make good policy decisions for Western Australian people and businesses,” it said.
The state government said it would ‘work as one government, rather than a set of agencies’, and with other sectors and jurisdictions, to implement the plan.
“Strengthening collaboration across the public sector is essential for delivering the digital strategy,” it said.
“We’ll partner with and learn from industry, business and academia to ensure that we’re at the forefront of the digital transformation landscape.
“We’ll continue to collaborate with other Australian governments on data and digital transformation, cyber security and digital inclusion, through our participation in various councils and working groups.”
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