In 2021, Publicis Sapient commissioned one of the largest private surveys on digital government services in Australia. The survey examined usage, experience, and perspectives on various aspects of how citizens engage with governments through digital channels. Conducted online in October 2021, it involved more than 5,000 participants across Australia, representing a demographic range of state, age groups, income status, and other factors reflective of the country’s population.
Our intention is to run this as an ongoing survey, building an index on progress and changes to how citizens engage or would like to engage with government digital services over time. We will also continue to include topical issues to gauge citizen responses and are open to suggestions for questions to incorporate.
There is a large and growing demand for digital government services across Australia. Nearly all Australians are using at least one government service digitally, with the most cited services (used by more than half of the population) being healthcare and finance/tax-related services.
Australians want more digital services in all areas—the majority of citizens are open to as many services being made available digitally as possible. Healthcare, ATO, and Centrelink were the most common areas where citizens have suggested extending digital service offers.
Increasing uptake of digital services is all about user experience—financial incentives or increasing service offers are less likely to drive new digital users. The key drivers are making services easier to access, simpler to understand, and saving citizens’ time.
Digital usage varies by service area, whereas user experience is high across the board. There is a significant difference in digital usage across key service areas, with citizens three times more likely to use digital health services compared to legal services, even though experience is rated highly across all areas.
Usage and experience are broadly consistent across states, with some exceptions. While user satisfaction is high across all states and usage is consistent, there are opportunities to learn from best practices in some areas, for example, legal and family services, given more material differences between higher-performing states and others.
COVID-19 had a significant impact on the demand and use of digital services. States most affected by COVID-19 have seen the greatest proportion of new users in the last 18 months, as well as the highest demand for digital services.
Australians are generally comfortable with Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated services. The majority of citizens are open to services that remember their details or tailor offerings based on personal information, though comfort levels are higher for people who are younger, on higher incomes, have good tech skills, and are currently using digital government services.
There are high levels of trust in government overall, with targeted interventions required to build trust further. Trust is a key consideration for openness to innovations in AI. While trust levels are high overall, there is a dip from an age perspective between younger and older citizens. Addressing issues around a perception of losing control of information and reassuring people around security protocols are key priorities for building trust.
There are opportunities to scale and enhance service offers around life events. Governments’ focus on life event service offers is well-placed, with over half of Australians experiencing a major life event in the last year. Younger Australians have the greatest needs in these areas—they’re the most willing to engage in this way, but also the most likely to not find what they need.
There is a high demand for digital support for those experiencing mental health issues. More than half of the population has sought treatment for mental health issues. Those more likely to experience mental health issues—young people, those with a precarious financial position, and those who have experienced a major life event in the last year—are also significantly more likely to seek support if offered digitally.
There is openness to innovation within Indigenous communities. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are an above-average user group for digital services. They are significantly more trusting of governments in using AI and value service customisation higher than the average. They also self-assess as needing more help and guidance in navigating digital services as a key driver to increase uptake compared to the average.
There are potential service gaps for people with disabilities. People with disabilities have a higher-than-average enthusiasm for digital services and are very open to services being personalised based on their disability status; however, they are nearly twice as likely to not use digital channels because they don’t cover the services they need.
There is lower support for digital in rural areas. People in rural areas appear to be more reluctant users of digital services, suggesting the need to engage and build trust with these communities if digital is to help provide a consistent service across the country.
The survey was conducted online over approximately one week in mid-October 2021, involving 5,051 participants with a range of demographic characteristics broadly reflecting the population of Australia.
Gender:
State:
Career:
Age Group:
Community Size:
Financial Situation of Employed Participants:
Definitions:
Nearly all Australians are using at least one government service online, with the highest usage within the Millennial group and those living in large cities. For those working, financial situation has less of an implication on usage.
Use of Digital Services by Age Group:
Use of Digital Services by Financial Situation:
Use of Digital Services by Community Size:
Duration of Accessing Government Services Online:
92% of Australians want to use digital services more, with ‘convenience’ and ‘saves me time’ as the biggest drivers of accessing services this way. ‘Convenience’ and ‘saves me time’ are more important than simplicity to established users of government digital services. Dissatisfaction with face-to-face services is not a major driver of seeking digital services, suggesting citizens are generally happy with these channels, but also emphasising the importance of creating a good omni-channel experience.
What did you like about using online government services?
Only a small proportion of Australians won’t use digital government services, with ‘time taken’ and ‘difficulty finding information’ cited as key barriers. Only 8% of Australians refuse to use digital government services.
Main reasons for not using digital government services:
Barriers by Age Group (selected categories):
Although usage varies considerably across six core service areas, satisfaction levels are consistently high across the service areas.
Service Usage (percentage of respondents):
Satisfaction with Digital Government Services (Very Good/Good):
Healthcare is the most popular digital government service, and legal is the least popular. There is some variation by age group, with Gen Z and Millennials using a much higher proportion of employment services (52% and 50%) than older generations (e.g., Boomers, 14%). Millennials and Gen X are high users of tax and other financial-related services at 67% and 66%, compared to Builders at 28%. Healthcare services are the most consistently used across age categories. Nearly universally, those who use digital services are satisfied with them, rating them as good or very good.
There are opportunities to grow service uptake further through improving the user experience, especially simplifying and making services easier to access. Overall, 92% of respondents said they would use additional services. The key factors to improving service and encouraging usage are creating a simple (44%), easy (44%), and efficient (41%) experience.
Factors that would most improve experience:
Factors that would encourage more use:
Citizens are happy for governments to keep increasing digital service offers in all areas. The most suggestions for increased service offers were around health, Centrelink, and ATO. The majority of survey respondents were open to any or as many as possible services being made available digitally. When asked for suggestions on where to fill service gaps, healthcare was suggested the most, especially elements including pathology, electronic health records, and Medicare services. My Gov and Centrelink specifically were called out as the next most common suggestions for improved digital services. Other suggestions included online voting, real-time citizen surveys/consultations, and digital identification/certification. There were also suggestions for improving user experience in general, such as integration with Apple Wallet, showing the importance of integrating government with other services.
Digital service usage is broadly consistent across states, with all states having a usage proportion of between 88% and 90%, except for South Australia (SA) at 85%. Usage by service area varies, with legal services usage ranging from 15% in Queensland to 23% in Victoria, and employment-related services usage varying from 38% in New South Wales to 44% in SA. Confidence in the readiness of respective governments to meet digital needs over the next few years varies from 78% in NSW to 69% in SA.
User satisfaction is high across all states, although there are opportunities to learn from best practices in legal and family services from high-performing states. For example, satisfaction with legal services varies from 72% in SA to 92% in Western Australia. Transport and recreation-related services were rated very highly across all states.
States most impacted by COVID-19 have seen the greatest proportion of new users in the last 18 months, as well as the highest demand for digital services. First-time usage of government digital services was highest in Victoria (65%) and NSW (63%). Demand for a greater number of services delivered digitally is also highest in Victoria (77%) and NSW (72%). Given these states have been most impacted by COVID-19, this suggests that the pandemic has had a significant impact on citizens’ appetites and response to digital services. Citizens in these states also have a higher opinion of their government’s performance.
A significant proportion of Australians experience major life events each year. Of these, new jobs and new homes were the most common and especially experienced by those in Gen Z and Millennial age groups. 60% of Australians have experienced a significant life event in the past 12 months. Those most likely to have experienced a life event are younger—Gen Z (75%) and Millennial (70%) vs Gen X (50%), Boomer (32%), and Builder (24%). This is driven particularly by events around new jobs and new houses. The death of a loved one and self or loved one’s serious illness or disability diagnosis are proportionately higher for older ages. This suggests opportunities to tailor and target specific services to some user groups.
Those in precarious financial situations are likely to experience more life events. While they are also more likely to find and use government digital services at these critical points, there is likely to be work required to support this cohort as offers evolve. Loss of job is the life event most disproportionately impacting people in a more precarious financial position, but moving state, marriage, and divorce are all twice as likely for people in a precarious financial situation than those who are in a stable position. Those with precarious or basic incomes are more likely to use digital government services during a life event and generally find them useful. But given these groups are also more likely to have lower tech skills and be less comfortable with digital service innovations, work will be required to educate and support them as life event services evolve.
Citizens from different ethnic groups or with physical or mental health challenges are proportionately more likely to experience many of the key life events, highlighting the importance of designing support and accessibility into these services. Aboriginal, Torres Strait, or Indigenous respondents were likely to experience most key life events, including new job, new house, death of a loved one, birth of child, and moving state. Those with physical or mental health challenges are more likely to experience life events around new job, new house, and death of a loved one. People from ethnic minorities are far more likely to experience new job and new house life events. All these differences highlight the importance of building support and accessibility thinking into life event service design.
There is an opportunity for Australian governments to raise awareness and extend life service offerings to support citizens. Despite the large number of citizens experiencing life events, there is a significant proportion (32%) who were not aware of the services or could not find what they needed. The Builder age category is most likely to be unaware of the service offers available at 56% of that cohort. Millennials and Gen X were most likely to find life event services helpful, although 13% of Millennials also recorded that they couldn’t find what they were looking for, suggesting opportunities for extending digital service offers in areas such as new job or new home.
There is a material difference in the use and usefulness of life event services depending on the event itself. Services around birth and inter-state moves are the most helpful, whereas the biggest gap is seen around support dealing with the death of a loved one. Citizens find life event services around births the most helpful, with 73% of respondents using digital services and finding them useful, followed by the support provided for those moving state at 63%. Life event services around new job and new house attracted quite a few users who wanted to use services and found them less helpful (at 23% and 25%, respectively). Support services for those dealing with the death of loved one were the least considered by citizens, at 41%. This suggests governments need to publicise the additional support that has been created in this area.
Usage and usefulness of digital government life event services is broadly similar across states, with NSW slightly leading other states. The highest level of usage and satisfaction with life event services was in NSW, where 49% of respondents reported using digital government support and finding it helpful. This could be reflective of earlier or greater investment in life event services in NSW. Respondents across different states recorded similar levels of not being able to find the services hoped for, with WA and SA slightly higher at 10% and 11%, respectively. These states also returned the highest level of 'not considering' digital government support during a life event, at 25% and 27%, respectively.
78% of Australians are comfortable when it comes to AI-generated and data privacy issues, including a significant percentage of those who do not support the concept of government. 83% of Australians are comfortable with a government website that remembers their last interactions (including name/services). 83% are comfortable with a government website that recommends services to them based on previous interactions. 78% are comfortable with a government website that personalises services based on their employment status and income.
Comfort levels are all significantly higher among:
Comfort with AI Scenarios (approximate percentages):
Trust in digital government services is high across the country; with younger and older age groups as the most trusting. The main barriers to trust are lack of control of information and security. Overall trust in digital government services is a significant driver of comfort in innovations such as AI applications. Trust in digital government services is high, with a total of 92% citizens trusting in the services. From an age perspective, trust dips in middle age categories—for example, 7% of Gen X and 8% of Boomers do not trust government compared to just 3% of Gen Z and 4% of Builders.
Main barriers to trust:
57% of the population has sought treatment for mental health issues. Younger people, those in precarious financial positions, and those who have experienced a major life event in the last year are more likely to have sought support. The most cited conditions are depression, anxiety, and stress-related. Those most likely to have sought treatment are:
Types of Mental Health Issues Sought Treatment For:
72% of those with a mental health condition say that an online consult for mental health would make them more likely to reach out for help. This perspective is notably higher among younger populations (who are also more likely to have sought treatment), with Gen Z at 72% and Millennials at 80% compared to Gen X at 59%. Overall, 70% of Australians say they are comfortable with online text or video-based assistance with mental health counselling. Comfort with digital support is higher (75%) among those with a mental health condition compared to those without (63%).
People from Indigenous communities are higher users of digital government services overall. They also seek services more following key life events. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island citizens are higher users of digital services than the average population (90.8% compared to 88.3%, respectively). This is driven by usage of employment, family, and legal services. People from Indigenous communities are more likely to have experienced a life event (e.g., 30% compared to 17.5% for new house, or 29% new job compared to 20%) and are much more likely to use online services for life events (77% compared to 68%). They are also more likely to have experienced mental health issues and are much more comfortable with online support for their mental health.
Service Usage Comparison (All vs Aboriginal/Indigenous):
Life Events Comparison (All vs Aboriginal/Indigenous):
Citizens from Indigenous communities are more open to AI being applied to their services and convey higher levels of trust in digital government services. They are significantly more comfortable with personalisation by location (41% compared to 30%), and having services recommended based on their last interactions (42% compared to 30%). This could be reflective of a higher degree of trust (47% compared to 44%). This suggests significant opportunities to innovate digital services for these user groups.
People from Indigenous communities value support in using digital services more and are significantly more keen to understand progress of changes to their service. 25% seek more support compared to 15% average. They are also significantly more keen to understand progress in service delivery or track key changes (35% compared to 13%). This suggests key design features and service supports that should be considered for this user group.
People with a disability have a higher-than-average enthusiasm for digital services and are open to services being personalised based on their disability status. However, they are nearly twice as likely to not use digital channels because they don’t cover the services they need. Digital government service usage is slightly higher for those identifying as having a disability (92%) than the overall population (88%).
A higher proportion of people with disabilities prefer digital services because they don’t like the way they are treated in government offices—26% compared to 16%. 53% of people with disabilities prefer digital because they don’t have to talk to anyone, compared to 39% overall. 22% of those with disability are not using digital services because they don’t cover the services they need, compared to 10% for the whole population. 44% of people with a disability feel customisation would encourage use of digital services, compared to 30% of the overall population. The influence of financial incentives also appears to be higher for those with a disability—38% compared to 27%. 39% of people with disabilities are very comfortable with personalised service, compared to 30% of the overall population.
People with a disability are more likely to experience different life events and mental health issues. They are open to receiving support in these areas digitally but can’t currently find all the services they need. Those with a disability experience a much higher level of life events overall. Approximately 10% more have experienced a new job, new house, or death of a loved one over the past 12 months. However, a higher proportion of people with a disability using online services at a life event are not finding what they need—28% compared to 22% overall. The reporting of mental health issues is considerably higher for those with a disability—only 13% reported no mental health issues in the last 12 months, compared to 43% of the general population. People with a disability who experience mental health issues are slightly more comfortable using digital services for support. 30% compared to 27% would definitely be encouraged to seek help if they knew digital support was available.
People living in rural areas appear to be more reluctant users of digital services. They are less likely to engage and less enthusiastic about the benefits, suggesting the need to engage and build trust with these communities if digital is to help provide a consistent service across the country. People living in rural areas are lower users of digital services overall and are considerably less likely to use digital in some service areas (e.g., over 10% lower for health or financial services such as ATO). 21% from rural areas don’t like to fill in forms digitally (i.e., prefer other channels), compared to 14% of the whole population. A higher proportion of people from rural areas feel no benefits in digital services (13% compared to 8% overall). People from rural areas are slightly more hesitant on AI—8% are not at all comfortable with digital services remembering previous interaction, compared to 5% overall. People from rural areas also show lower levels of trust in digital government services—13% reporting they would never trust them, compared to 8% overall.
Publicis Sapient is a digital transformation partner helping established organizations get to their future, digitally-enabled state, both in the way they work and the way they serve their customers. We help unlock value through a strategy-led and customer-centric method, fusing strategy, consulting, and customer experience with agile engineering and problem-solving creativity. As digital pioneers with 20,000 people and 53 offices around the globe, our experience spans technology, data science, consulting, and customer obsession—combined with our culture of curiosity and relentless pursuit—enables us to solve complex challenges, create new value, and deliver services their customers truly value. Publicis Sapient is the digital business transformation hub of Publicis Groupe. For more information, visit publicissapient.com.
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