E&OE
SUBJECTS: myGov Audit report, health care funding, digital privacy, Clubs NSW
BILL SHORTEN, MINISTER FOR THE NDIS AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES: Good morning, everybody. It's a real pleasure for me to be here in Sydney with Minister Victor Dominello from the New South Wales State Government. We're pleased to jointly announce exciting new developments in the provision of government services for the citizens of New South Wales and for the Australian people. Specifically, the Federal Government operates a government services digital system called myGov. Yesterday we announced a reception of a report outlining potential new direction to make myGov operate better in the interest of all Australians. But it's good to talk about things what Australian citizens want to see as progress. Action speaks louder than words. Today I'm pleased to announce that Minister Dominello and I have struck an agreement which will see on the national app, the myGov app, not only will you have national identity digital ID available in the wallet of the app, but the New South Wales driver's licence will be able to be dropped into the myGov wallet so that people can have that form of digital ID available very easily. In return, the New South Wales Government has certainly been a leader when it comes to the digitisation of government services, we will make available the Medicare card on the New South Wales Government app. We hope to accomplish this in the third quarter of this year. There are plenty of technical matters to be worked out. The good news is, at least for Australians who live in New South Wales, that they'll have the Federal and State Government talking to each other and that you'll be able to access digital information and ID a lot easier than it currently is. And I hope that other states in the Commonwealth take up the same opportunities that New South Wales has. What I'd like to do now is let my friend and colleague Mr. Dominello talk about this arrangement from the New South Wales perspective.
VICTOR DOMINELLO, MINISTER FOR DIGITAL AND CUSTOMER SERVICE: Oh, thank you, Minister Shorten. I want to thank Mr. Shorten for his leadership on this. This is a real powerful step forward to empower the people of Australia and here in New South Wales with choice. We know that in New South Wales 80% of people have opted in to download their digital driver's licence. It's very popular. That's close to about 4.3 million people in New South Wales have a dual driver's licence on their service app and it's used very frequently with high satisfaction scores. But one of the significant feedback that we constantly get is why can't we have the Medicare, the digital Medicare on the service app, which is a fair question. But equally, if I choose, why can't I have my digital driver's license on my myGov app? And that's a fair question too. So, because of Mr. Shorten's leadership, we are able to connect these two important dots to give the people choice. If they want their driver's license on the myGov app, they can have it there as well as their service and vice versa in relation to Medicare. And that's the way it should be. We need to empower people and this way we break down the silos, not just between insider government agencies but between federal and state governments. So, this is a really big step forward for digital infrastructure in this country. As Mr. Shorten said yesterday, that 200 years ago we put the railway network down in this country, about 100 years ago we put the energy grid down. This century is about putting the digital architecture to empower the people of this great country. And this partnership with the federal government is a great first step.
SHORTEN: Thanks. We wonder if there's any questions on this announcement.
JOURNALIST: So, is there more to this than just providing the state credentials and myGov and Medicare card into the Services NSW app? Is this the first step of that partnership? And I guess what are some of the other things we might expect to see?
SHORTEN: I'll let Victor answer from the New South Wales perspective. But nationally I think that Australian citizens reasonably expect they should be able to go to one door, one digital door and deal with all government services. We've got the technology available from your smartphone, you’ve got your digital wallet. It's about time that Australia joined the 21st century in the digital age, so I'm optimistic that if we can demonstrate by leadership between New South Wales and the Commonwealth people who live in other states are going to say, where's our digital driver's license and why can't put it on our app? And what we're doing is we're not arguing about who's more important. We just want to get on with it. And it's a sign that the issue is above politics. I know that the New South Wales State Opposition's called for this measure to happen. So, you know, hats off to the whole political system in New South Wales. It's working towards the most convenient lifestyle where citizens control their own data. But this is a journey. This is a nice, neat breakthrough. I think most people, when they listen to this will say, well, that makes sense, and we won't stop at the driver's license. Other forms of digital ID should be available, and I think that's where people want to go.
DOMINELLO: Yeah, Thanks, Bill. This is ultimately about improving the experience for people of New South Wales and Australia. Ultimately, if people want to have their birth certificate, which we're digitizing, and New South Wales will be the first state but then I see Queensland, Victoria are going to be shortly thereafter. If they want their birth certificate on their Services New South Wales app, so be it. If they want on their myGov app, so be it, if they want on both, so be it, if they want on their Google or Apple watch, provided the privacy and security settings are in place, so be it. This is about empowering people to have more control of their life and their lifestyle with other digital products that we've already got in New South Wales that are very popular, such as a number of trade licences that have become digitised and so many more in the pipeline. Again, we should not think like a silo. And Mr. Shorten said some time ago, in a very powerful way that Australians are not interested in old colonial boundaries when it comes to service delivery. They just want a seamless experience because first and foremost we're all Australians and we expect governments to work together for that outcome. And again, this is a visceral demonstration of us working together for that outcome.
JOURNALIST: How quickly can this be implemented? What will it cost and who's going to pay for it?
SHORTEN: From the federal side, we can do it within existing budget. It'd be great to have it done by the end of June, but just to keep my hardworking public servants from getting frustrated I won't promise the end of June, but I'd really like to see it done by the third quarter of this year. We're on schedule to have the Medicare card, the digital Medicare card, on your federal myGov app at the end of March. So, cost from within existing budget, and timetable, ideally third quarter of this year.
DOMINELLO: Likewise, I'm hoping to have it by the end of the year, but at a stretched target early in the new year, but worst comes to worst, third quarter and within existing budget. So, another example of why this is important, I was asked this morning on radio, why isn't the digital driver's licence in New South Wales accepted by Australia Post? It's a fair question. It's a digital ID, enshrined in law in New South Wales and people accept it. Pubs and clubs accept it, lots of venues accept it. Why not Australia Post? Now, we'll have to work through that issue. But if we've got this solid relationship between the feds and the state, this is a working structure that we can iron out a lot of these day-to-day problems that people confront. So, this is not just about moving credentials where people like, it's about setting up a framework to resolve some wrinkles in the digital system at the moment.
JOURNALIST: Minister Shorten Just a bit more broadly, what do you make of a push by the states for more funding from the federal government for the for the health sector? And secondly, do you think if the federal government were to come to the table with extra funding, the states need to offer something up in exchange, like more support for disability funding and the like?
SHORTEN: Well, there'll be a meeting of first Ministers and the Prime Minister later this week. Health care is a hugely important issue to Australians, but also to state and federal leaders. I won't pre-empt the negotiations and the discussions there, but you did mention disability. The National Disability Insurance Scheme sort of meant to be a 50/50 proposition between the states and the Federal Government. The Federal Government is now picking up about 63% of the tab, the state's 37%. I do think there is a challenge not just in health care, but to make sure that other federal departments and other state departments are doing their fair bit for people with disability so that the NDIS doesn't become the only lifeboat in the ocean. So, the school system, community mental health, aged care. But returning to the health issue. Federal Labor has already announced extra money for our health system, but obviously the states deliver a lot of the health service and hospitals, so we're very keen to get their perspective, their data, and their information. The real message to Australians who are worried about health care funding is that there's a new government in Canberra. We want to fund it properly, but we'll do it by listening and working with people.
JOURNALIST: Minister Dominello just on another topic –
DOMINELLO: Is there anything else on myGov from anyone?
JOURNALIST: It’s definitely about identity, it's kind of connected. Just wanted to get an update, I guess, where the federal government is with the identity piece, because obviously that's very important to progressing myGov into the future. There's been a bill ready to go for a while now. Obviously, the election is delayed that somewhat. I just wanted to get an update on where, if there need to be changes to that legislation or whether that's something the government intends to pursue in the next six months?
SHORTEN: A couple of moving parts there. First of all, the Digital Transformation Agency has the lead in terms of the federal digital ID issues. That's in Minister Katy Gallagher's remit. I know the work is being done on digital ID and it's moving along. I can't give you a specific timetable to that, but I would commend people to look at the Thodey review, which is something which the Prime Minister and I and Katy Gallagher commissioned straight after the election. I think it does outline an approach which I know the Government is currently contemplating and weighing up to, advance the digital strategy of the Federal Government working with states. One thing which I think will be good is that once our federal digital wallet can add up to 100 points of ID, we want to take the pressure off private organisations and the private sector, having to ask for a whole lot of data from citizens. If they're just trying to establish a person who they say they are, when you've got an authenticate and myGov account and 100 points of ID, I hope that that building block will, I think, move forward, protecting people's privacy, getting citizens control over their data, and also take some of the pressure off private companies to have to try and assemble all their big honeypots of data for hackers.
JOURNALIST: Mr Dominello, what do you make of Clubs New South Wales Chief Executive Josh Landis’ resignation yesterday, and do you think that this could be an opportunity for the government, the state government, and Clubs to kind of break the ice and move forward here?
DOMINELLO: Well, obviously, Tom, that was a matter for Clubs New South Wales and the leadership under Dr. George Peponis and the board. So, I respect their decision, but it also gives us an opportunity to honestly reframe this discussion, this dialogue. I'm hoping that they will take counsel from what took place in relation to the Star and what happened to the Star board and what happened to the Crown Board. You know, they need to make sure that, you know, reforms around money laundering and problem gambling are taken seriously. Again, this was not an idea that came out of thin air. This is the number one recommendation the Crime Commission report. So, if we can work with the clubs to honour that commitment by the Crime Commission, I think that is good for everyone in New South Wales.
JOURNALIST: Do you think Clubs New South Wales has been up until this stage too combative in this kind of dialogue?
DOMINELLO: Again, I don't want to talk negatively about the clubs. I like talking about the positives and I think this is an opportunity for a new positive start where you get visionary leadership that understands that you have to tackle these issues of problem gambling and money laundering seriously. And again, it's not just me that says it's not just the Premier that says is this, it is Justice Bergin, Justice Finkelstein even, in Victoria, you've got the Crime Commission, you've got the Royal College of Surgeons, you've got the Police Commissioner, you've got the trade union movement - there are so many people and organisations in Column A, together with overwhelming community. So, I'm asking the Club board specifically and their leadership specifically to not do what the Star and the Crown did in relation to real issues that subsequently found them out. To do the right thing and appoint visionary leadership that will take and improve the lives of people in New South Wales.
JOURNALIST: Minister Shorten. I'm sorry, I just got one more for you. Just from a national perspective, Andrew Wilkie has said that National Cabinet could in some way play a role in wider gambling reform. Do you see a role for a national approach to this issue?
SHORTEN: The Department of Social Services and the government focuses on a range of harms which put pressure on families and people doing it hard. But I'm not sure if it's on the agenda for this National Cabinet, so there's not much more I can add, I'm afraid. I just want to make this comment about Minister Dominello, he’s retiring at this election. It's been very good to deal with you, just, sometimes in politics, you meet people, you can just get on and do the deal and get outcomes. So that's very good. And I hope that we're able to utilize his services nationally in the different careers he embarks upon. And I should also just reassure Sydneysiders that the New South Wales citizens that the Opposition, the State Opposition, the Minns Opposition have said that they are very supportive of what we're proposing. So, it's good news for Sydneysiders and New South Wales citizens and maybe we might be able to utilise and work with Mr. Dominello in what he's done in government services in the future after this state election.
Thank you everybody.
[ENDS]