Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Hansard source

Members of the House would be aware that myGov provides a secure and convenient way to access 15 government services. For example, there are 19 million myGov accounts which are linked to Medicare, and 97 per cent of the claims which people made in the last 12 months for disaster relief were done through myGov. On average, every day 1.4 million people use myGov, which is more than people who use public transport to commute to and from work. Also, myGov helps protect people's personal information. I believe that myGov will be developed as a trusted system which will be used to verify someone's identity, avoiding the need for private-sector organisations to pile masses of data which then can be inconveniently hacked.

The myGov user audit, which was done this year as part of our election policy, has proposed ideas which we're currently considering to improve reliability and functionality and provide a user-friendly experience. It's built upon David Thodey's independent review of the Australian Public Service, and I think it adds to the roadmap of how myGov can achieve a better vision for the delivery of government services and build trust between citizens and their government. The audit thinks that it's an indispensable national digital infrastructure.

This is a good story and good news, but there is a catch. The previous government decided that the job would be done by 30 June this year. The Francis Fukuyamas, the End of History people, believed that history would end on 30 June and that we would reach Utopia. There was no need to do any more—mission accomplished, as a former American president said! And when you look at the 2021-22 portfolio budget statement, there's $92 million dollars in 2021-22—good, tick—and $80 million in 2022-23.

See this speech in context