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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-11-13 Daily Xml
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GOVERNMENT SERVICES ONLINE

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (15:05): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Government Enterprises a question about online services.

Leave granted.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: More and more, it seems, people are moving their banking, grocery shopping and bill-paying to online services. One can even renew one's motor registration online, if one can believe Matt and Dave on 891 this morning. I am not quite ready yet to throw away my cheque book and migrate to an electronic existence myself—

The Hon. Carmel Zollo interjecting:

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: No, I'm an old fuddy-duddy, I'm afraid—but I understand there are advantages for some, particularly those who have limited mobility due to an accident or frail health. Will the minister advise how the government is addressing the delivery of government services online?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister Assisting the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Energy) (15:06): I thank the honourable member for his question and hope I can convince him to modernise his way of approaching services. Service SA is the one-stop shop for many government services and has facilitated a significant shift to online services in 2008 by achieving the following milestones:

Management of approximately 9.5 million financial and non-financial transactions through Service SA facilities.

20 to 25 per cent growth in online business Service SA manages on behalf of the government (20 to 25 per cent relates to the value of transactions—sometimes the value online increases greater than volume, and vice versa).

42 per cent of the $1.2 billion fees and charges collected on behalf of state and local government are collected online.

Service SA manages several online facilities, including:

Bizgate. The whole-of-government online payment channel, processed 548,217 transactions from July to September 2008, which is an increase of 14.1 per cent for the same period in 2007. From September 2008, Service SA consolidated the separate EZYReg payment gateway under Bizgate. The Bizgate gateway now handles around $0.5 billion in payments for services annually.

The Service SA website (www.service.sa.gov.au) has 1,500 online services. Service SA receives in excess of 300,000 website session (visits) annually.

SA Central. This whole-of-state portal is the government's No. 1 site, with over 9,500 links to government agencies. Service SA receives 2.5 million website visits annually to the SA Central website.

Gateway Plus. This whole-of-government service directory has over 3,000 entries.

Online shop. This site has 2,000 government products available.

By providing more services online, Service SA is also able to have frontline staff concentrate on assisting customers with more complex issues where they can add the most value. Also, Bizgate's suite of web-based business solutions offers a secure, highly cost-effective and seamless way of collecting funds and information. It has the capability to process secure information and financial transactions whilst providing an array of relevant and useful reporting functionality.

Advantages for the South Australian community as a result of migrating to online transaction channels include:

Payment of SA police expiation notices online (not that that would apply to anyone in this chamber!);

124 DECS educational facilities allow payment of school fees; and

BASS online bookings.

In addition, Service SA is participating in a national pilot scheme with the commonwealth's VANguard program. VANguard is a key authentication (verification of a business's or individual's details) and notarisation (time stamping and validating the integrity of a document) facility online. Businesses can confirm their identity once and then conduct business online with the many agencies with which they are required to deal in the conduct of their trade. VANguard, as a capability within Bizgate, will enable agencies to make available transactions online that previously required a business to attend in person or send hard copy forms where proof of identity and/or time stamping documents are required.

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