NSW Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Matt Kean has laid out the state government’s broader plans to accelerate its digital transformation agenda to Australia’s business sector that’s focused on innovation.
Speaking to some of Australia’s most innovative companies at the GameChangers Summit in Sydney in March 2017, Mr Kean outlined the state government’s ambitious plans and strategies to create a digital-friendly arena that “reimagines the role of government in the digital age”.
One of the most important aspects of Mr Kean’s talk was the 2016-17 NSW Budget’s injection of $69 million into driving whole-of-government strategies to achieve better value service delivery from ICT across government.
Of course, the state government processes many financial transactions daily, but Mr Kean lamented that currently, approximately 40 per cent of Australian government transactions (Commonwealth and state) are still being conducted by traditional, non-government digital channels.
“Reducing this figure to 20 per cent over a ten-year period would realise productivity, efficiency and other benefits to government worth around $18 billion, benefits to the public of around $9 billion, and up-front costs of around $6 billion,” Mr Kean said.
He said the NSW government aims to have 70 per cent of government transactions conducted via digital channels by 2019, and “the Digital Government Strategy is a key component in addressing this”.