Former chief executive of Telstra David Thodey AO will lead a panel of experts overseeing an expansive user audit of myGov. 

Minister for Government Services and NDIS the Hon. Bill Shorten has chosen leaders across diverse fields of technology, ethics, public health and government to review myGov to ensure it delivers outstanding service for Australians. 

Mr Thodey will be joined by:

• Edward Santow, former Human Rights Commissioner;
• Julie Inman Grant, eSafety Commissioner;
• Professor Emily Banks AM social epidemiologist; and 
• Amit Singh, former Head of Global Economic Policy at Uber.

The myGov website is Australia’s largest authenticated digital platform, with 25 million linked accounts and more than one million sign-ins each day. It’s been critical in delivering essential government services to people through the pandemic and following natural disasters.

The new user audit into myGov will begin in the coming weeks, reporting back by the end of the year. 

Minister Shorten said the expert panel would deliver on an election pledge announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and himself in April. 

“Mr Thodey has extensive global experience across technology, innovation, research and the public sector and a strong interest in the customer-centred transformation of business,” Minister Shorten said.

Minister Shorten said the audit would set the direction for myGov to best serve Australians. This review will seek to unlock the potential of myGov to turn it into a world-class citizen centric service that supports citizens throughout their life-course. 

“Mr Thodey led the Independent Review of the Australian Public Service in 2019 providing a vision to better use digital technologies to deliver outstanding government services,” Minister Shorten said. 

“That review recommended three key principles for service delivery. Putting people at the centre of design, having a single access point to all government services and creating a seamless user experience. myGov is central to all three of these pillars.

The current two-year program for improving myGov ends in mid-2023 and the audit will help to inform next steps for the upgraded myGov platform. 

“We’ve moved quickly on our election commitment to identify the changes needed to improve myGov’s reliability, functionality and deliver a more user-friendly experience,” Minister Shorten said.

“We’ve recently seen the first significant updates to myGov in a number of years, but the evolution of myGov into a service that truly unifies government digital services – to make life easier for Australians – will be constantly improved.

Mr Thodey said the panel will consult with myGov users, states and territories, the Australian Public Service and peak bodies to help inform the recommendations.

“I am pleased to be leading this team of diverse and very capable Australians leaders who all bring exceptional expertise to the table across a wide range of fields,” Mr Thodey said.

“This new audit will build on the independent review and complete the roadmap for myGov’s role in realising that vision for government service delivery.”  

The recommendations made in the final report will inform future improvements to myGov.

The report will be provided to the Minister for Finance and Minister for the Government Services and recommendations will inform future improvements to MyGov.