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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-02-10 Daily Xml
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SERVICE SA

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (15:27): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Government Enterprises a question about access to government information and services.

Leave granted.

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: I understand that the core theme of the government's Ask Just Once strategy is to improve service delivery, especially for people most in need of support. The key focus of the strategy is to improve efficiency—for example, by encouraging people to use the internet to access government information and services. It is a pity members opposite do not utilise it a bit more often, rather than asking for inane FOI requests and so on.

Encouraging people to use online delivery modes will allow frontline staff to focus their attention and assistance on where they can add the most value. My question is: will the minister outline to the chamber how the government is making access to information and services easier for all and encouraging a shift to the internet?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Public Sector Management, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises) (15:28): I thank the honourable member for his question. Indeed, he is right that many of the FOI requests made by the opposition are, in fact, public documents and could easily be accessed by hopping onto the internet.

Service SA is the state government's one-stop contact point for government information and services. It offers choice and flexibility to customers and provides access to government-related services, information and products and financial transactions through an integrated network of phone, face-to-face and online delivery channels.

Service SA manages the South Australian government's single entry point online, www.sa.gov.au. In line with the government's Ask Just Once strategy, Service SA, in conjunction with the relevant departments and agencies, is constantly maintaining and updating the information available on the site. This website has been designed to make South Australian government services and information much easier for members of the community and businesses to access.

Content on the site is customer focused and organised by topics of interest to people in businesses. This approach brings together all information from across government on topics such as transport or disability, regardless of the departmental boundaries and divisions of responsibility. We know this has frustrated many people in the past who have had to hop from department site to department site to obtain cross-policy information.

Since the official launch of the site in November 2009, customers have enjoyed benefits such as a reduction in time, effort and costs when transacting with government, as the provision of easily accessible information will obviously better inform customers; a reduction in the necessity to move from one department's intranet site to another to search for information; and the provision of more streamlined and integrated approaches focusing on the service required by the customer rather than on the government department.

I am advised that the content is written in simple, plain English, separating corporate information from customer content. This enables users to find what they need quickly and easily. The approach to writing the content for the site has been borne by leading global research and also experts in the field, so quite a lot of consideration has gone into this. The site now has close to 1,900 pages of content, and I am advised that traffic has increased 22 per cent from January 2010 to January 2011 and page views are up by 26 per cent. This represents over 4,000 visits per day, and I understand this trend is expected to continue.

Service SA has arranged for an external consultant to run focus groups. I am advised that the groups provided positive feedback, with users advising that content is easy to find. I am pleased to advise that all portfolios across government are now committed to leading or contributing content to the site.

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