New South Wales Digital Strategy is building a roadmap to inclusion and safety

Chris Minns’ Labour government has launched its new digital roadmap for New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state and home to Sydney.

The so-called NSW Digital Strategy sets out how the state will deliver “innovative, inclusive and secure digital services to improve the lives of residents,” according to the government release. In addition, it is aiming for greater accessibility, to upskill communities, and to build resilience for the future.

But perhaps of greatest interest is that according to the NSW government, this is the first time that the new strategy will include “a way to track progress on digital as a state,” as it measures five key missions.

The NSW Digital Strategy is emphasizing accessibility, productivity, trust, resilience, and digital skills. The state of New South Wales is home to 32 percent of Australia’s population and interested parties around the world will be closely following how digital services are being rolled out and implemented in the region.

Key initiatives of the strategy include the delivery of the NSW Digital ID and NSW Digital Wallet. In June, it was announced that New South Wales’ decentralized digital identity program would get a further $21.4 million in funding from Minns’ government, although the cash infusion is expected to land next financial year.

In addition, the roadmap intends to deliver “secure and resilient critical communications” for emergency services while supporting communities during disasters. The strategy aims to build on projects like the ‘Hazards Near Me’ app, which includes fire, storm, tsunami and flood information. As Australia has made headlines globally in recent years, the NSW Digital Strategy plans to leverage data and use artificial intelligence to “enhance the response” to natural disasters, making use of tools such as RFS Athena, which predicts fire behavior.

Another key objective is to support housing delivery by improving the NSW Planning Portal and developing the Digital Housing Pipeline, which is an initiative that provides information on the delivery of new homes.

Security is another pillar of the roadmap as the NSW government wants “better coordination of information and communications technology spending” across its offices in order to reduce duplication, as well as targeting “an enhanced approach to cyber security coordination, governance and investment.”

One of the main challenges in implementation of the digital strategy is that one in five people feel they lack the necessary skills to perform online tasks such as job searching, working, studying or accessing government services, according to a NSW government survey. Feedback to this survey also discovered that those aged 65 and above, those from low-income households, or those whose highest education level is high school, are “less likely to feel confident” in performing the aforementioned tasks. But NSW has a Digital Inclusion Strategy designed to alleviate these issues.

New South Wales’ Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government Jihad Dib said: “The NSW Digital Strategy lays the foundation for a future for digital services that are more secure, inclusive and accessible, and is a commitment to improving people’s daily lives.“

“We are already bringing our strategy to life, through initiatives like our new EasyRead hub and updated AI frameworks, by ensuring digital infrastructure is front of mind for government projects, and by improving cyber security,” he continued.

Article Topics

Australia  |  digital government  |  digital identity  |  digital inclusion  |  digital wallets  |  government services  |  New South Wales (NSW)