Services Australia to launch myGov mobile app in December

Services Australia is planning to launch a myGov mobile app before the end of the year, as the federal government’s $200 million overhaul of its online services platform continues.

Deputy CEO of transformation projects Charles McHardie told Gartner’s IT Symposium/Xpo on Monday that the long-anticipated “first iteration” release of the app is slated for December.

It's been two years since the government first flagged the need for a single government app to ensure a citizen service delivery experience similar to the experiences offered when dealing with the private sector.

At the time, it used the single entry point offered by NSW’ one-stop shop for government services, Service NSW, as an example of what the Commonwealth experience could look like in the future.

As revealed by iTnews in July, Services Australia has worked with consulting giant Deloitte to develop the myGov app since signing a six-month deal worth $5.4 million.

The app will provide access to the government digital experience platform (GOVDXP) that Deloitte has also been building since early 2020 to replace the existing myGov platform.

GOVDXP – which is based on software from Adobe – is expected to give citizens a single, personalised view of their actions with government, with content structured around life events.

Users could also receive Netflix-like service recommendations based on their previous interaction through the platform.

McHardie said the app would have a “wallet function” to store credentials like “international Covid-19 digital certificates”, but he was otherwise tight-lipped on its other features.

Images of the prototype shared at the conference also show that users would be able to take advantage of Face ID on iOS devices to log into their accounts in much the same way as can be done with banking apps.

The enhanced myGov will also have a new dashboard, though McHardie did not explicitly say if this would be accessible via the app.

McHardie added the enhanced myGov will, on the whole, “significantly improve people’s experience in dealing with government, offering a central front door to online government services”.

“People will no longer need to know what part of government is responsible for transactions and services,” he said.

The government set aside $200 million for the myGov overhaul in this year’s budget as part of its digital economy strategy.

It expects that the time saved from the enhancement to the platform will generate benefits of as much as $3.6 billion over 10 years.