PUBLISHED DATE: 2025-08-12 23:16:31

The Digital Citizen Survey

Issue 1: Uncovering Opinion Around Digital Government Services

Citizen Insights Hub

Overview of the Survey

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 states, age groups, income statuses, 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.

Summary Insights

Overall Demand and Support for Digital Services

There is a large and growing demand for digital government services across Australia—nearly all Australians are using at least one government service digitally. The most cited services, used by more than half of the population, are healthcare and finance/tax-related services.

Australians want more digital services in all areas, with the majority open to as many services being made available digitally as possible. Healthcare, the ATO, and Centrelink were the most common areas where citizens suggested extending digital service offers.

Increasing uptake of digital services is primarily about user experience—making services easier to access, simpler to understand, and saving citizens’ time are the key drivers. Financial incentives or simply increasing service offers are less likely to drive new digital users.

Service Area and State Comparisons

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, such as 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.

Artificial Intelligence and Trust

Australians are generally comfortable with Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated services. The majority are open to services that remember their details or tailor offerings based on personal information, with comfort levels higher among younger people, those on higher incomes, those with good tech skills, and current users of digital government services.

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 the perception of losing control of information and reassuring people about security protocols are key priorities for building trust.

Targeted Digital Support When Citizens Need It

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 are the most willing to engage in this way but also the most likely to not find what they need.

There is 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 precarious financial positions, and those who have experienced a major life event in the last year—are also significantly more likely to seek support if offered digitally.

Experiences and Perceptions of Different User Groups

Openness to innovation within Indigenous communities: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are above-average users of 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.

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.

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.

Scope, Analysis and Findings

Survey Approach and Key Demographics

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:

Use of Government Digital Services

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:

Reasons for Using Government Digital Services

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 emphasizing the importance of creating a good omni-channel experience.

What did you like about using online government services?

Resistance to Government Digital Services

Only 8% of Australians refuse to use digital government services. The main reasons given are: A small number, skewed towards younger generations, were not using digital government services because they don’t meet their service needs.

What didn’t you like about using online government services?

Digital Service Usage and Satisfaction by Service Area

Usage varies considerably across six core service areas, but satisfaction levels are consistently high. Healthcare is the most popular at 66% of those using digital government services, and legal is the least popular at 19%. There is some variation by age group, with Gen Z and Millennials using a much higher proportion of employment services (52% and 50%, respectively) 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. The highest level of satisfaction is for digital transport and recreation services (94% rating 'very good' or 'good'), and the lowest is legal, which is still rated 'very good' or 'good' by 87% of users.

Which, if any, of the following have you ever accessed online using the government website or app? What do you think about these digital government services?

Opportunities to Grow Digital Service Uptake

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.

‘Saves time’ and ‘ease of access’ are more important than clarity or guidance as a message when promoting digital government services to existing users. Respondents did not rate customisation as a particular driver of improved experience (27%), although this may indicate the need to educate them on the potential benefits of a more personalised experience. Financial incentives are not a major driver of increased usage, with only 27% of users saying this would encourage increased use of digital services.

Which of the following would most improve your experience? Which of the following would encourage you to use more digital government services?

Suggestions for Filling Gaps in Digital Service

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.

Top aggregated categories with a frequency count > 20:

Inter-state Usage Comparisons

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.

Inter-state User Experience Comparisons

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.

Impact of COVID-19 on Usage and Demand Across 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%). Citizens in these states also have a higher opinion of their government’s performance.

Citizens Experiencing Major Life Events

A significant proportion of Australians experience major life events each year. New jobs and new homes were the most common, especially among 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.

Prevalence of Life Events Based on Financial Position

Those in precarious financial situations are likely to experience more life events. 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. However, 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.

Experience of Life Events on Different Citizen Groups

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. Survey respondents identifying as Aboriginal, Torres Strait, or Indigenous 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.

Citizen Experiences of Life Events Services

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 (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.

Use and Usefulness of Support by Life Event Type

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 a 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.

Experience of Life Event Services Across States

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. 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.

Support for Different Applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

78% of Australians are comfortable with AI-generated and data privacy issues, including a significant percentage of those who do not support the concept of government. 83% are comfortable with a government website that remembers their last interactions (including name/services), and 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 those who support governments (average 82% compared to 65% of those who do not), people with good tech skills (82% compared to 65% of those with no tech skills), those with a household income of $100k+ (83% compared to 76% of those with a household income of <$100k), current users (81% vs 59% of non-users), and Millennials (83% compared to 73% of Boomers and 69% of Builders).

Comfort with AI Applications:

Trust in Government Around Digital Services

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% of 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.

The main barriers to trust in government digital services are lack of control of information (48%), concerns around security (39%), and ability to fix issues (38%). 'Robodebt' is still a concern for greater than a third of those who do not trust digital government services.

Prevalence of Mental Health Issues

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 those with precarious finances (79% vs 64% basic, 48% stable, and 43% comfortable), younger (Gen Z at 66%, Millennials at 64%, and Gen X at 54% vs Boomers at 37% and Builders at 21%), and those who experienced a life event (68% vs 41%).

Have you ever sought treatment for any of the following?

Demand for Mental Health Digital Services

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 (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%).

Digital Service Usage Within Indigenous Communities

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), driven by usage of employment, family, and legal services. People from Indigenous communities are more likely to have experienced a life event 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.

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island & Indigenous use of Digital Government by service area compared to all: Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island & Indigenous experience of life events in last 12 months compared to all:

Perspectives of Indigenous Communities

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.

Support Requirements of Indigenous Communities

People from Indigenous communities value support in using digital services more and are significantly more keen to understand progress of changes to their service. They self-assess as valuing support and guidance more in using digital services (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.

Digital Service Experiences of Those With a Disability

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.

Life Events for People With a Disability

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.

Digital Service Usage and Experience for Those Living in Rural Areas

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, 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.

Contact

Senior Client Partner, Federal Government
Mark Williams
mark.williams1@publicissapient.com
0402 076 439

Senior Client Partner, Victoria
Anna Faithfull
anna.faithfull@publicissapient.com
0417 804 683

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