Introduction

As anyone who has worked with me knows, I have had an ambitious agenda for my portfolio of government services.

As I come to the end of the three year election cycle, I’ve been doing a bit of a stocktake – what were the big ‘ticks’, what needs more attention and – the question that strikes fear in the heart of my hard-working Agency – what are our stretch goals?

So, I’ll just mention a few big ticket items under each of these categories.

I put the Robodebt Royal Commission as a ‘tick’.

It was necessary to get to the bottom of the worst chapter in Australia’s public administration history.

I also put Services Australia’s genuine, forward-focussed approach to implementing the recommendations on the plus side of the ledger.

The consultation with advocacy organisations; changes to how debt is managed; and the collaboration across government…

…is the type of approach that is required to ensure a scheme like Robodebt cannot happen again.

When I took over the portfolio it was obvious that staffing cuts – thousands of jobs being abolished – had left the Agency unable to meet customer expectations….

…which had not really abated after Covid.

I fought very hard to get Services Australia properly resourced and was able to secure record funding in this year’s Budget.

The 3000 new recruits have hit their straps and along with seasoned Agency staff are making amazing inroads into the 1.35 million claims backlog.

Call wait times are dropping. For Centrelink for example, by 7.5 minutes.

Congestion messaging was slashed by some 80%...

…and 68% of customers at our service centres are now served within 15 minutes.

Put simply, we answer the phones more quickly and pay Australians more quickly.

The turnaround has been phenomenal and proves that the problem with backlogs and unanswered calls was not due to lack of will, skill or commitment but a lack of resources.

Inclusive institutions

This was not just an academic exercise in getting better stats.

This type of deliberate focus on making payments and services as easy to access as possible…

…signals the importance placed on the social security, Child Support and Medicare safety net as a central pillar of a just society.

In fact, three economists, James Robinson, Simon Johnson and Daron Acemoglu [Da-rone Assa-mo-glu]…

…wrote a book, more generally, about inclusive institutions being fundamental to the prosperity of a society.

In Why Nations Fail the Nobel Prize winning authors argue that if a state becomes a tool for serving private interests and not the collective welfare of society…

…it will encourage poor fiscal policy and unsustainable debt.

They give examples of countries which have high levels of poverty, not because the citizens are less smart, talented, innovative or entrepreneurial…

…but because the state designs institutions to actively block opportunity.

The book gives the example of North and South Korea…

…virtually indistinguishable until the war which would see the peninsular divide into the communist north and the market economy – and eventual democracy – of the south.

South Korea has thrived due to "inclusive institutions," such as representative legislatures, good public schools, and open markets.

Inclusive institutions educate their populations; invest in infrastructure; fight poverty and disease; and encourage innovation.

The opposite is found in countries like North Korea and Venezuela which build "extractive institutions"…

…where small groups of the rich and powerful use the heft of the state for their own ends and prosper through, among other things, corruption and rent-seeking.

Inclusivity – making people our focus – has been at the core of my plans for government services.

Tech is the key to democratising access to these services.

Easier, safer, more convenient access to payments and services that can all be done with a smart phone.

I have been clear with my Agency leaders that we don’t need to just keep up but anticipate the digital future.

myGov and Trust Exchange are two initiatives that have the potential to fulfil this mission.

myGov is constantly adding new features and more users and connects the community to a range of government services in one location.

It also allows users to safely manage their credentials.

The myGov audit said this platform should be acknowledged as critical national infrastructure and funded accordingly.

I have been able to get the Government to agree…

…and this year’s Budget saw an investment of $630 million in myGov over four years, and $145 million per year ongoing.

myGov will be instrumental to the success of Trust Exchange – or TEx.

TEx

I’d like to spend a bit of time updating you on what has happened since I introduced Australia to TEx in my National Press Club address in August.

A brand new initiative which I am grateful has the enthusiastic endorsement of the Tech Council.

My work on Trust Exchange has been encouraged by colleagues including the Minister for Finance, Senator Katy Gallagher, who has carriage of Digital ID…

…and Assistant Treasurer, and Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones.

The beauty of TEx is that it is a ‘distributed’ model.

No one place where the hot commodity that is personal data is stored.

No data honeypot for cyber criminals to exploit.

TEx doesn’t duplicate myGov or the existing Australian Government Digital ID System.

It builds on it.

It has been designed to give citizens more control over the personal information they share with third parties.

We’re at the proof-of-concept stage for TEx, which is being led by Services Australia.

The proof of concept will test ideas in the real world, using real people.

We’ll gather feedback from individuals and businesses who use this technology and see what works, what doesn’t and where more support may be required.

In one of the first potential ‘real world' applications of this technology, Services Australia will test registration as a new patient at a medical centre…

…using the Medicare card, Department of Veterans’ Affairs card and Centrelink Concession card.

And I’ll stress that it will be test data used during this process.

The testing will look not only at the technology but also the experiences of both patients and health practices in accepting patient information this way.

Initially, Services Australia will test how the Trust Exchange can issue into the myGov app wallet…

…but will also look at how to give customers a choice of which digital wallet they want to use, and which cards and credentials they want to store digitally.

We have to acknowledge the need for a more rapid response when breaches or scams occur…

…because cybercrime has moved on since the ‘know your customer’ laws were introduced after 9/11.

If we move to encrypted data only being accepted – that’s verified credentials – it means we move away from having to hand over plain text documents.

That will be an overdue but great leap forward in data security, because plain text documents are the easiest to sell on the black market because anybody can read them.

Consultation on TEx

For TEx to be successful, digital credentials need to be accepted all across the economy.

Services Australia is building to the most common open standards being adopted in both the public and private sectors, for this reason.

Consultation with key stakeholders is crucial to the success of the vision for this initiative.

The Agency is consulting and gathering feedback across governments, community groups, the public…

…and industry, including Microsoft, Google and Apple.

State and territory Data and Digital Ministers agreed to a Digital ID and Verifiable Credentials Strategy in June this year.

Trust Exchange aligns with this Strategy…

…and does not get in the way of the work being done by individual jurisdictions.

We support the recent progress we’ve observed, such as the work led by Austroads…

…and we’re designing for future interoperability, based on open common standards.

We want Australians to be able to use their digital credentials across the Commonwealth, state, and private sectors, through the wallets of their choice.

I have established the Interim Independent Advisory Board to Services Australia – and recruited Victor Dominello to Chair this board.

Members of the Board have already provided guidance on design, community needs, ethics and privacy considerations…

…and I acknowledge the value of their contribution.

Services Australia is also working closely with the Department of Finance, which is leading the delivery of Australia’s Digital ID System.

Our proof of concept builds on the investment so far in the Australian Government Digital ID System and is focussed on how we use Commonwealth verifiable credentials.

Digital ID’s strong foundations, including robust security and privacy protections, and its regulatory framework, will be of enormous benefit to TEx.

The Australian Taxation Office is also part of the consultation and is leading a connected piece of work.

This will test the ability to issue verifiable credentials for a Digital ID created with the myGovID app – what is now called myID.

In February, the outcomes of all this work will be shared with the Department of Finance.

At that point informed decisions can be made on whether to expand the preferred proof of concept model to a pilot.

Trust Exchange Vision and Benefits

Trust Exchange has the potential to massively change the way we operate.

The TEx proof of concept tests people’s ability to easily access and share their verifiable credentials.

All that is exchanged is a digital token – what amounts to a digital thumbs up by the Australian Government.

This means businesses and services get only the information they need and carrying physical cards and documents becomes a thing of the past.

That’s a win for the customer.

But it’s also a win for the business because it no longer needs to store personal ID documents and data on its systems

This not only minimises data management costs but also enhances data security and compliance with privacy regulations.

No stored data.

Nothing for cyber criminals to target.

Verifiable credentials also have the potential to significantly reduce the risk of identity theft.

TEx will make it difficult for stolen IDs to be accessed and used fraudulently.

This enhances the overall security of digital transactions and protects Australians from identity-related crimes.

My agency will also be working with major banks to test the ability to use these verifiable credentials in citizens wallets to more easily and securely open a new bank account.

They will test the real-life scenario in branches of a major bank.

Helping people easily open a bank account is exactly the type of inclusion the Nobel prize winning academics say brings prosperity to us all.

It builds financial wellbeing, financial capability, and resilience for vulnerable people and those most at risk of financial and social inclusion and disadvantage.

It Is why my colleague, Minister for Social Services, Amanda Rishworth, has made it an essential element of the Financial Wellbeing and Capability Activity program run by her department.

Human centred design

TEx is about putting people at the centre of design.

Understanding what services customers want – how to meet their needs and simplify their lives.

The only way to do that is to test potential solutions with real people, and then test…

…iterate and test again.

If it passes the proof-of-concept stage at the end of this year, we will explore how this innovation could be applied in a range of settings…

…from the cases I’ve mentioned with health practice registration or setting up a bank account…

…to proving concessional entitlement, or applying for a rental property.

Conclusion

Trust Exchange is a new, world-leading concept.

To have it integrated into Australia’s cyber security environment would be something akin to a shop that puts up a sign that says ‘no cash kept on these premises’.

It would send a signal to scammers and cyber crims that Australia is not an easy touch. They can take their dodgy enterprises elsewhere.  

I move on from my role as Minister for this vitally important portfolio but with the work we have done on TEx, to date; the vision we have for its future; and the support of industry partners; I am confident of its success.

That will be a win for all of us.