New department grabs whole-of-govt IT in NSW

NSW’s freshly re-elected Coalition government has intensified its focus on service delivery through the creation of a dedicated portfolio that joins the state’s customer service and IT functions at the hip.

Changes in the new cabinet unveiled by Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Sunday afternoon will see the formation of a new Department of Customer Service headed by former Minister for Finance, Services and Property Victor Dominello.

Dominello, who spent just over two years as Finance minister, has been handed the new title of Minister for Customer Services in Berejiklian's latest cabinet.

As the top ranking minister in the new cluster, he will continue to take charge of the state’s IT and digital government remit, as well as the central service delivery agency Service NSW.

This will likely see the whole-of-government IT function, led by chief information and digital officer Greg Wells, and Service NSW plucked from the Department of Finance, Services and Innovation.

It comes ahead of planned changes to the development of government services aimed at ensuring consistency across agencies and IT funding models.

The closer alignment of of the two functions would pre-empt further digitisation of the state government's services. In its last term, the government wanted 70 percent of government services digitised by 2019.

However, despite the increased focus on customers of government, Berejiklian has opted to scrap the Parliamentary Secretary for Digital Inclusion position held by Catherine Cusack, who moves to become Parliamentary Secretary for Cost of Living.

The assistant minister role - Dominello's number two on digital service delivery - was introduced a little over a year ago to work with Service NSW to explore how government services and transactions could be made more accessible to citizens.

The new Customer Service department will also host new Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation Kevin Anderson.

Anderson, who was previously Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Roads, Maritime and Transport, replaces former Minister for Innovation and Better Matt Kean, who has become the Minister for Energy and Environment.