MEDIA RELEASE - A SIMPLE QUESTION FOR BILL SHORTEN

PAUL FLETCHER MP 

Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy 

Shadow Minister for Science and the Arts 

Manager of Opposition Business in the House

MEDIA RELEASE

Tuesday, 13 August 2024

A SIMPLE QUESTION FOR BILL SHORTEN

In a few hours’ time, the Minister for Government Services Bill Shorten will address the National Press Club and deliver a keynote speech loftily titled, “Government services in Australia: the next decade.”

According to media reports this morning, he will promise to deliver a new digital identity project, called Trust Exchange. 

But any Australian unlucky enough to listen to this speech should recall the simple proverb: let the buyer beware.

Just one example of Bill Shorten’s inability to improve government services is his failure to deliver a promised digital credential sharing project with the New South Wales Government.

On 1 February 2023, at a media conference in Sydney, Bill Shorten said the following:

Bill Shorten: Today I'm pleased to announce that Minister Dominello and I have struck an agreement which will see on the national app, the myGov app, not only will you have national identity digital ID available in the wallet of the app, but the New South Wales driver's licence will be able to be dropped into the myGov wallet so that people can have that form of digital ID available very easily. In return, the New South Wales Government has certainly been a leader when it comes to the digitisation of government services, we will make available the Medicare card on the New South Wales Government app. We hope to accomplish this in the third quarter of this year.

Fast-forward to more than a year later, and Australians are still waiting - as confirmed at the most recent Senate Estimates on 3 June 2024:

Senator Kovacic: You might also recall that last time I raised Minister Shorten's announcement where he said that by mid-2023 New South Wales residents would be able to access their New South Wales driver’s licence in the myGov app. Is this feature public as of yet?  

Mr McHardie [Services Australia’s Chief Information and Digital Officer]: No, it's not.

How can Australians trust Bill Shorten with the next ten years of government services when he can’t even deliver within six months?