Labor to launch completely new review of myGov based entirely on user’s views

Labor has revealed how it will change the myGov site if elected, to make using the portal hassle-free.

Exclusive: The trouble-plagued myGov portal will be overhauled by a Labor government to make it as easy as possible for users to access services and payments.

If elected, Labor will conduct a full user audit of the site – conducting an independent survey of the public to catalogue their experiences and finding out how to make using myGov easier and more seamless.

The supposed one-stop shop for government services such as Medicare, Centrelink, childcare payments and the Australian Tax Office, has been bedevilled by complaints over the years for its complex and Byzantine processes which have left many users at risk of losing payments they are entitled to.

The system also crashed in March 2020 after a surge in demand from users trying to access welfare payments during the first Covid lockdown.

While there have been some improvements over the years, Labor will launch a completely new review of the site based entirely on the user’s perspective and with a new focus on improving the user experience.

Labor wants to make the myGov portal more user friendly.

I’m a joint statement, Labor leader Anthony Albanese and Government Services spokesman Bill Shorten said the user audit would take a “fresh look” at how well myGov is performing in terms of reliability, functionality and a user-friendly experience.

The new will also put the public user’s experience as the central benchmark for the site’s performance, with the Australian public defined as the “most important stakeholder” in the service.

The user audit will be conducted by a senior public servant independent of the myGov providers and will therefore be revenue neutral.

Labor will also guarantee myGov user data is retained within Australia.

It is understood Labor wants to make it as easy as possible for Australians to process and access any payments owing to them via childcare, Centrelink, the ATO or special one-off payments for things such as disaster relief.

The plan also appears to be designed as a counterweight to the Coalition’s infamous Robodebt automated debt recovery scheme which wrongly calculated debts owed by welfare recipients and automatically issued thousands of debt recovery notices to vulnerable Australians.

Bill Shorten said the audit of the myGov portal would take a “fresh look”. Picture: Bronwyn Farr.

Labor said its reform of myGov would “signal a return to professional, competent and humane delivery of customer services”.

Mr Albanese told News Corp Australians should be able to access government services and entitlements as easily as possible.

“Millions of Australians interact with myGov everyday and rely on it to provide essential services,” he said.

“It’s not up to scratch, and Australians deserve better. That’s why we will review myGov, and make improvements where necessary.”

Mr Shorten said the plan would be a new start for government service delivery.

“Our myGov pledge will help revitalise government service delivery alongside Labor’s existing commitments to stop closing Centrelink shopfronts around the nation and hire an additional 200 new Services Australia workers,” he said.

“This government has a terrible record on service delivery – Labor will change that.”

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Originally published as Labor to launch completely new review of myGov based entirely on user’s views