Vehicle Registrations

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (14:28): My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. Can the minister explain to the house why the automated telephone service for renewing vehicle registrations has been discontinued. With your leave, Mr Speaker, and the leave of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr McBRIDE: It used to be the simple, quick and easy to renew registrations via the automated service with no need to speak to a customer service operator. Now that system has been discontinued and people who wish to renew via phone have to wait for an operator to become available, if they can understand, which is extremely time-consuming as well.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens—Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:29): I want to thank again the member for MacKillop for his question and his deep concern for regional constituents, which is welcome in this chamber. It is good to see someone fighting for the regions.

Mr Brown: It's not just hashtag.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: There's a hashtag there somewhere, isn't there? The member is referring to the Interactive Voice Response service, and the acronym is IVR. The service was introduced in 2003 as a means for our customers to renew their registration via an automated service by calling a designated phone number. At that point in time, digital renewal options, including the EzyReg app, direct debit and the mySAGOV account, were yet to be introduced to the public, so this is a legacy service that we have had in place before all the digital improvements. The introduction of these multiple other payment options since 2003 has resulted in a considerable decline in people using the IVR service. The drop in service has rendered it unviable for us to continue it operating.

This renewal payment option was decommissioned on 27 October, as only 0.6 per cent of all renewals were being processed through this process. Customers can still call Service SA on 131084 during business hours to renew their registration, so you can still talk to a person to do it. Upon calling, customers will be connected to a service delivery officer and have access to a range of Service SA services and transactions.

For the house's information, my department advises that over 80 per cent of registration renewals are now processed digitally. The IVR has served us well, but it's time has come and gone. The remainder is processed through the Service SA centres and local post offices. I know there is some concern from that small cohort who still use the IVR. They have become used to it. They have been doing it now for nearly two decades, but time has moved on. I apologise to the constituents of MacKillop who have enjoyed this service, but Service SA is more than happy to assist the member and his office to help people get onto the other services to be able to access these appropriate new services.

There are many other ways you can register your vehicle or renew it, whether it's through the mySAGOV account, turning up in person—which I know is difficult for people in regional centres, so I don't say that in any way to try to engage a response—and of course there is always Australia Post. There is a series of Service SA centres throughout Adelaide and, of course, they can do it by post still. You can still use Australia Post. That of course is by a renewal notice with a return payment to Service SA at GPO Box 1533, Adelaide SA 5001. You can pay by money order or cheque marked 'not negotiable' made payable to the Department for Infrastructure and Transport, not me personally.