Public Sector

Government life-event services are a clear success story, but not everyone is taking advantage

The rate of digital government service adoption is going strong across Australia, with 85% of Australians using an online service in the past 12 months. This is according to the findings of the Publicis Sapient Digital Citizen Report 2024 – one of the largest annual surveys on digital government in Australia, featuring participation from more than 5,000 Australians across demographics. But even as technology usage has become ubiquitous, findings in the report show that 49% of Australians did not use and 36% did not even think of using online government services available to them following a life event – including births, deaths, when moving houses or to support a job change.

Even though a vast majority of citizens are using at least one digital service of some kind, there is still an awareness gap for life-event services. This could be attributed to an overall decline in Australians experiencing major life events, with only 55% reporting one in 2024 compared to 65% in the previous year. There was also a slight decrease in online service usage, with 85% taking advantage of available services compared to 94% in 2022. One possible reason for this is a post-pandemic surge in births, marriages, job changes and house moves, but it would do well for governments to monitor this trend in the future.

Building a connected journey to support life events is not easy; it involves collaboration between organisations. However, it is evident from research that the Australian Government is on the right track when it comes to improving access, connectedness and efficiency of digital services. What is needed is more encouragement and incentive to push citizens who have never used digital government services to use them. This involves listening closely to people to understand their pain points and tweaking services to deliver simple, seamless citizen experience in the moments that matter the most.

Regular users are naturally more likely to identify areas for improvement in digital services. Analysing trends is vital to identifying strengths and opportunities, so that government teams can build more inclusive experiences that support people during key life events. It can also boost overall trust in digital services – which is essential to connect better with citizens.