Service SA

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:04): My question is to the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government. I refer to your answer to my question without notice yesterday, when you advised the missing million Service SA transactions could be attributed to phone calls, and ask if the 1.4 million of the 1.5 million increase in online transactions comes from a transfer of phone transactions to online transactions?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (15:05): I thank the member for Florey for her question and do note her ongoing interest in this. That is not information that has been provided to me. Essentially, the increase in online is about the fact that there is a trend towards online that's not unique to Service SA. People are choosing to buy things online. People are choosing to transact bank transactions online. We are finding more and more people are wanting to access online services because it's a way that they can do so without having to leave the comfort of their own home and it saves them time and it saves them money. So certainly that is not my understanding of the figures we have been spruiking, but merely that there is a long-term trend towards online transactions.

I would say that, because of the growth in population in South Australia, there is an overall increase in the number of transactions being undertaken, which is why we presented those figures in percentage terms. We see growth in transactions with growth in the number of vehicles and the number of houses and all the different aspects that people need to transact with Service SA, but more than that, there is a long-term trend towards online. It's something that we are keen to push, promote and accelerate because it's quite clearly what our customers are telling us they want to have delivered.

Based on the question yesterday from the member for Florey, my understanding is that the number of phone calls to the Service SA contact centre is quite stable. We haven't seen a huge variation in the number of people choosing to do that, but we are seeing a decline in face-to-face transactions as people move to online.