13 November 2023

Shorten appoints former NSW Minister Victor Dominello to head up myGov Advisory Group

| Andrew McLaughlin
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Shorten & Dominello

Federal Minister for Government Services and the NDIS Bill Shorten has appointed former NSW Customer Services Minister Victor Dominello to head up a new myGov Advisory Group. Photo: Facebook.

Minister for Government Services and the NDIS Bill Shorten says a new myGov Advisory Group will ensure future improvements are aimed towards improving the customer experience.

The Advisory Group – to be led by former NSW Customer Service and Digital Government Minister Victor Dominello – has been established as a key recommendation from the myGov user audit, which found myGov to be critical national infrastructure.

Released in February, the audit recommended improvements to make myGov more user-friendly rather than the unwieldy and difficult-to-navigate app it currently is.

Mr Dominello previously oversaw the development of the NSW COVID-19 check-in app and brought many NSW Government services together under Service NSW, improving customer service and making it a much easier and more seamless process. Mr Dominello stood down from state politics following Labor’s win in the state election earlier this year.

“I’m thrilled Mr Dominello has accepted my invitation to lead the new Advisory Group, which will provide me with advice and assurance on approaches to designing, funding and prioritising customer-centred improvements for myGov,” Mr Shorten said in a 9 November release.

“Victor Dominello is one of Australia’s top innovators, and his leadership, influence and passion for customer-centred digital service delivery has already delivered significant benefits to New South Wales residents during his time as a Minister,” he said.

“Mr Dominello was also recently appointed as Chair of the Ministerial Digital ID Expert Panel. His influence in both myGov and Digital ID developments will provide a more holistic approach to transforming government digital service delivery.

“The other committee members bring strong, balanced and wide-ranging insights across fields such as governance, service delivery ethics, use of technology in digital service delivery and advocacy for both customers and service delivery staff.”

Minister Shorten said that he hopes the announcement will restore users’ confidence in myGov and that his next target will be cracking down on scams.

Mr Shorten revealed earlier this week that scammers are taking advantage of myGov users, resulting in more than 4500 myGov scams being identified so far this year and “thousands” of myGov accounts having to be suspended each month due to suspicious activity.

“In addition to the new Advisory Group, myGov will also soon benefit from a number of changes to how customers can sign in, ensuring that accounts and personal information remain protected,” Minister Shorten said.

“Passkeys will be introduced to bring myGov further into the twenty-first century, allowing Australians the ability to use biometric options such as facial recognition to access the site.

“These important sign-in alternatives are familiar to many Australians, and are a key safeguard against scammers who use phishing tactics to harvest personal information, like people’s date of birth to fraudulently access accounts.

“Under Labor, we want a safe and secure myGov. I look forward to working with the Advisory Group on further measures to improve the site, bolster security, and lock out the scammers.”

Original Article published by Andrew McLaughlin on Riotact.

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