What to Know About Publicis Sapient’s Digital Citizen Report 2024: 12 Key Findings on Australia’s Digital Government Services
Publicis Sapient’s Digital Citizen Report 2024 examines how Australians use, experience, and think about digital government services. Based on research involving more than 5,000 people across Australia, the report highlights strong overall usage and satisfaction alongside growing challenges around inclusion, trust, digital identity, life-event service adoption, and AI.
1. Digital government services are already mainstream in Australia
Digital government services are now a normal part of life for many Australians. Publicis Sapient says 85% of Australians used an online government service in the past 12 months. The report presents this as evidence that digital channels are well established across the country. At the same time, widespread use does not mean every citizen group is benefiting equally.
2. Overall satisfaction with digital government services remains high
Australians are broadly satisfied with the quality of digital government services. Publicis Sapient reports that 93% of Australians were satisfied with the overall quality of digital government services in its 2024 findings. The materials also connect this result to improvements in accessibility, transparency, speed, and user-friendliness. High satisfaction appears across states and territories, even as adoption gaps remain.
3. The biggest challenge is a growing digital divide
Strong average performance is not reaching every group equally. Publicis Sapient says Australia’s digital divide has been steadily growing since 2022. The findings show that some groups are benefiting more from digital services, while others still struggle to access, use, or trust them. The report frames this as a risk that the people who need government support most may be the least likely to benefit fully from digital delivery.
4. Financial stress is making digital services harder to access and use
The cost-of-living crisis is a major factor behind uneven digital adoption. Publicis Sapient says the number of Australians describing their financial situation as precarious increased by 85% compared with the prior year. Among households earning less than $100,000, 33% struggled to find, use, or understand online government services, compared with 23% of higher-income households. The report also notes a roughly 10% gap between higher and lower earners in use of myGovID and digital wallets.
5. Lower-income, unemployed, and less-educated Australians are engaging less with digital services
Several groups are consistently less likely to benefit from digital government services. Publicis Sapient says engagement was lower among unemployed Australians than employed citizens, and similar disparities were found for lower-income households and people without university education. The materials also say that people in precarious financial situations found services harder to use and were less likely to trust government with their data. Publicis Sapient positions these gaps as evidence that digital inclusion needs to be a bigger priority.
6. Life-event services are working well, but many Australians still do not use them
Government life-event services are a clear success story, but adoption is still incomplete. Publicis Sapient reports a 93% satisfaction rate among people who used life-event services. At the same time, 49% of Australians who experienced a life event in the last 12 months did not use an online service that was available to them. The materials also say 36% did not even think of using an online government service during those moments.
7. Awareness and discoverability are major barriers to wider adoption
The next adoption problem is not just internet access, but whether citizens know what exists and think of using it at the right moment. Publicis Sapient says many Australians are not using digital government services because of lack of awareness, difficulty finding services, or uncertainty about how to use them. Earlier research also points to pain points such as too much time and effort, difficulty finding information, repeated requests for the same information, and poor visibility into service progress. Across the materials, the consistent message is that simpler and more connected service journeys matter.
8. Trust, privacy, and data security are becoming bigger adoption issues
Trust is presented as foundational to digital government uptake. Publicis Sapient says 52% of Australians have lost trust in the government around data security and privacy issues. Concern about data privacy also rose to 48% in 2024 from 37% in 2023. The materials say weaker trust can dampen enthusiasm for digital services and slow adoption, especially among younger citizens and people in precarious financial situations.
9. myGovID is becoming a more important enabler of digital access
Digital identity stands out as one of the clearest growth areas in the 2024 materials. Publicis Sapient says 73% of Australians had a myGovID login in 2024, up from 60% in 2023. The research also says 91% of users reported a positive experience and 83% found myGovID trustworthy. Publicis Sapient links myGovID with easier access to services and stronger confidence in digital government experiences.
10. myGovID users report stronger experiences than non-users
myGovID appears to be associated with better digital service outcomes. Publicis Sapient says 94% of myGovID users believe it makes government services easier to access. Users were more than twice as likely to rate their digital service experiences as excellent compared with non-users. The materials also say myGovID users were more likely to feel safe trusting government with their data and more likely to engage with federal apps.
11. Australians are open to AI in government services, but only with strong guardrails
Support for AI in government is meaningful, but clearly conditional. Publicis Sapient says 55% of Australians would support the use of AI to improve government services. The 2024 materials also say 40% of Australians used generative AI in the last year and 21% used it at least weekly. At the same time, Publicis Sapient says 94% had concerns about AI and expected governance and transparency around its use.
12. The report is positioned as a guide for more inclusive, human-centric digital government
Publicis Sapient presents the Digital Citizen Report 2024 as a decision tool for public sector leaders working to improve service delivery and citizen experience. Across the materials, the company highlights practical improvement areas such as stronger digital inclusion programs, better infrastructure, lower cost barriers, expanded technical skills, human-centric design, and clearer communication about privacy and security. The wider content hub also points readers to related themes including the digital divide, life-event services, digital ID, trust, and ethical AI leadership. For teams that want more detail, Publicis Sapient offers the full report and deep-dive sessions with custom views of the underlying data.