The Allan Labor Government's digital flagship, Service Victoria, has been exposed by the Auditor-General as an expensive white elephant that has failed to deliver on its promises.
Service Victoria was established to become the single front door for Victorian Government services, with the original business case anticipating that almost all government transactions would migrate to the platform by 2020. More than a decade later, that vision remains nowhere near reality.
A scathing new Victorian Auditor-General's Office (VAGO) report has found that despite accepting all recommendations from a critical 2021 audit, virtually no meaningful progress has been made. In some cases, VAGO found agencies had inaccurately reported their progress.
The Auditor-General found that:
- High-volume transactions such as VicRoads registrations and licensing services have still not migrated to Service Victoria as originally envisaged.
- Victorians continue to pay for duplicative government IT systems that Service Victoria was meant to replace.
- The Department of Government Services still cannot demonstrate whether Service Victoria is delivering the benefits promised in its original business case or reducing costs.
- Service Victoria has no clear long-term strategy and no plan to encourage agencies to migrate their services onto the platform.
- The Government does not even have a comprehensive understanding of what digital services continue to operate outside Service Victoria.
- The public still has no way of knowing whether digital government services are becoming more efficient because key reporting measures were never implemented.
Perhaps most concerningly, VAGO found Service Victoria has shifted its reporting focus from transactions to activities. Rather than measuring completed government transactions, the platform now counts a range of interactions that may have little to do with delivering a service, creating an inflated picture of performance.
Victorians saw the reality of Service Victoria only weeks ago when the platform struggled under the entirely predictable demand generated by the Government's vehicle registration rebate scheme.
After more than ten years and millions of dollars, Victorians deserve better than a digital platform that cannot demonstrate whether it is achieving its core purpose.
Shadow Minister for Government Services, Brad Rowswell, said: "Labor's continued mismanagement of Service Victoria means that they can't be taken seriously when it comes to delivering digital services and digital transformation.
"Victorians will legitimately question if Labor's Department of Government Services can help position Victoria as a technology leader if they can't get the basics right.
"Under a Liberal and Nationals government, we will work with Victoria's tech-industry to clean up Labor's mess and help reposition Victoria as a technology leader; delivering better services to Victorians."
Shadow Minister for AI and the Digital Economy, Richard Welch, said: "Victorians deserve a modern, user-friendly digital platform to do the basics of everyday life, but Labor is simply failing to deliver.
"After more than a decade, the Allan Labor Government still cannot tell Victorians whether Service Victoria is saving money, reducing costs or delivering the benefits it promised.
"The Victorian Government should be leading the way when it comes to seizing the enormous opportunity to use digital solutions to improve service capacity, speed and quality. Instead Labor is deferring essential works and putting us even further behind states like NSW who have their digital strategy in order."
