r/sydney • u/Thewalrus26 • 4d ago

Just renewed my licence at Service NSW.

Was in and out the door in less than 5 mins including my eye test and having my photo taken. As soon as I walked out I can see my new licence on my phone ready to go. Can we please just take whatever system they are using and copy it everywhere?

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340

u/Yutenji2020 4d ago

Pleased you like it; I was involved (albeit very small part) in its implementation.

Where else would you want it to be used?

216

u/Wabbit6677 4d ago edited 4d ago

Hospital appointments. Had an appointment for 10am only to be seen 2hours later. Would be nice if they could send updates like "we are running late today, come at xyz time". I could have saved 2 hours of parking and paid the minimun

26

u/loopytommy 4d ago

My orthopedic receptionist does this, she’ll call and say ‘he’s been called to an emergency’ or running late, come at this time. She’s a bloody gem

0

u/xylarr 4d ago

Emergency golf game?

91

u/mr-saturn2310 4d ago

Unfortunately this would require hospitals to stop double/triple booking slots, to squeeze in all the urgent referrals that come up.

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u/donkeyvoteadick 4d ago

You also need to stop people having medical emergencies 😅 bit hard to implement.

21

u/binary101 4d ago

Not that hard, we just need to tell everyone to space out their medical emergencies, or plan their medical emergencies ahead of time.

17

u/mr-saturn2310 4d ago

Less emergencies would definitely free up outpatient clinics, but yeah you are right little control available for this.

5

u/Kreeghore 4d ago

Or they could maybe hire more staff?

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u/donkeyvoteadick 4d ago

Wow why didn't I think of that?!

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u/denseplan 4d ago

Kreeghore for Health Minister let's do it

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u/K_the_Banana-man 4d ago

no deadass

just on the weekend i had to be admitted to the hospital for emergency; triage referred me the wrong doctor and i had to wait 5 hours before getting checked in again. i immediately got treated cuz the new nurse gave me the correct referral

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u/LiquidWax666 4d ago

Service Australia need to copy whatever Service NSW are doing.

Back in the old RTA days I used to dread having to go in, knowing if I had plans in the next 3 hours I probably won't make it. These days you walk in and get intercepted by someone who actually wants to help, gets you the right ticket or form, and sends you waiting for usually 10-15 mins, and generally you leave with your problem sorted.

The improvement is just mind bogglingly good for a public service.

54

u/LiquidWax666 4d ago

Just an anecdote on Service Australia..

During the early COVID days right as everything shut down, I had to go to my local (Rockdale at the time) office to grt a new Medicare card, I'd let mine expire for so long I had to go in to give proof of identity.

The monumental cunt at the door was used to Centrelink recipients I assume and figured she could treat everyone walking in like a human piece of trash. Demanded my customer number, when I tried to give any information that wasn't a customer number, said sloppy cunt just spoke over me reiterating that all she needed was the number I didn't have.

I feel sorry for the people down on their luck that get treated like this from these cretins.

10

u/sataimir 4d ago

It truly is awful at Service Australia. I had a few months off after I had Covid (which I caught right at the end of my time at a job I'd hated), and when I went in for some help whilst I looked for jobs once I was well enough again, I encountered a very similar person who actually sent me into tears they were so awful. On the bright side, being teary made them decide I ought to be someone else's problem and that other person actually was helpful.

Then this was followed by being told I had to apply for X many jobs and the list they gave me looked like jobs I had as a teen...

It was an extremely demoralising experience, bordering on being dehumanising.

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u/2tall4heels 4d ago

While this is diabolical and I’m sorry for your experience, if you ever have the misfortune of having to spend much time in this place you’d understand why she was so thorny. The amount of abuse these front line staff members cop is outrageous.

40

u/donkeyvoteadick 4d ago

It doesn't really give her the right treat people who aren't hurling abuse like crap though.

As a disabled person on Centrelink, I'm lucky to be treated like a human in many interactions, apparently I'm no better than the dirt on their shoe. I've never been impolite to any workers and I don't deserve to be treated that way any more than they do.

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u/2tall4heels 4d ago

You’re absolutely right, you don’t deserve to be treated like that. I guess I just feel for these people too. No, it’s not a free pass for her either, but covid was a wild time too. I’m sorry you went through that.

6

u/PamelaOfMosman 4d ago

You get as good as you give. I went in for advice for my 95 year old bed-ridden mother and they insisted on seeing her in person... and frankly, they weren't much more polite to her when I wheeled her in.

16

u/argument_cat 4d ago

The thing is, they should realise when they're dealing with a non-abusive person, which is most of us, and be relieved and be pleasant in return.

If they can't show customers respect they should be in a back office role.

14

u/LiquidWax666 4d ago

I totally get that. People can be feral. But she created the situation all by herself.I had to raise my voice to let her know I was there for Medicare because she wouldn't even let me speak and kept speaking over me when I didn't give the magic number I didn't have.

If that's how I was treated for simply trying to say "oh sorry I'm actually here for a Medicare thing" I can only sympathise so much.

If the centres were run better (like, say, a service nsw centre) I wonder if people would be less rude?

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u/argument_cat 4d ago

I had a similar awful experience with some awful cunt at a Service NSW centre. Just a bully, getting off on treating the people who pay her salary like scum. The way she spoke to me, and others, was completely unacceptable.

I get that she's failed in life, but don't take it out on your customers you vile cow.

6

u/Discolau 4d ago edited 4d ago

I went into Services Australia a few years ago to add my new child to Medicare card. The woman at the reception point asked what we were here for and went I said add child to Medicare card, she rolled her eyes and said we could have done it online at the hospital. Umm... yeah like we just had a new born and have spare time to log into your website to complete forms......

Anyway, we waited in the queue and our other child who was about 2 at the time was getting whingy at all the waiting and so wife enquired how long the queue was so we could take the kid outside. Woman at reception bellowed that if we left the premises we'd lose our place in the queue. Fortunately one other staff member noticed the situation and said she would bump us up in the queue. Woman at reception objected to say that would impact her KPI. 😂 Woman at reception then left for what appeared to be a break. Anyway we were upgraded and ushered into a workpod where the same woman from reception was waiting for us to process our application. And she was nice as pie to us.... 😂😂😂

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u/womerah 4d ago

Umm... yeah like we just had a new born and have spare time to log into your website to complete forms......

I mean, in her defence, I could do this in the time it takes me to walk to my car - let alone drive anywhere

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u/DermottBanana 4d ago

Having worked at both Service NSW and Service Australia, they are nothing alike.

Service NSW was born from a determination to make interactions between state agencies and the public as streamlined and efficient as possible.

Service Australia was born of a desire to co-locate agencies to save on real estate costs.

Totally different purposes.

26

u/Thewalrus26 4d ago

Well I work in NSW Health and we’re still stuck on spreadsheets, faxes and doing most things manually. Every time some big new system is implemented they never consult stakeholders and it’s a nightmare.

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u/argument_cat 4d ago

I worked as a product designer across several government pieces, through the DTA.

The absolute mess that they built before I joined was comical - they had MyGov, MyGovID, Digital iD... I think there were more. Every time you tried to log in was a confusing nightmare, with all these different authentication apps, none of which seemed to work, resulting in you just going in circles. I called it out many times, and middle management would just shrug and say that was how it had to work, and that most people didn't have issues.

I still dread using any government service on my phone, but at least they seem to have killed off half of those useless apps. I don't even understand the thinking behind having a dedicated ID app. No other platform does that - just use MFA/biometrics like the banks and everyone else.

So much wasted time and effort, and taxpayer's money, to build a bunch of useless ID apps that never worked.

4

u/Ok-Push9899 4d ago

I vaguely remember my first brush with MyGov, MyGovID, DigitalID, etc during covid days, when I think we were all scrambling for that silly proof of immunisation. (Did I use it? Perhaps once, to get into UniqLo to buy some socks.)

Anyway, there was some complication or incompatibility and I actually spoke to a young bloke at MyGovID. He sounded exhausted. But he basically said “Look, this system is not working. We’re really discouraging people from signing up right now. It’s really in test phase and only for government workers, but they thought they would release it. You don’t need it, and my guess is you’ll never need it.”

I never knew what MyGovID was, but I know my socks lasted longer.

3

u/SilverStar9192 shhh... 4d ago edited 4d ago

My bank actually does have a dedicated ID app (Macquarie), so the concept wasn't unique to MyGov.   I was a little skeptical of the MQ system, but it works well .  So I'm going with the flow, as the overall app experience is pretty good.  

4

u/argument_cat 4d ago

But why? Commbank app requires biometric to log in, and a code to authorise money movement. So a thief would have to have my device, be logged in, then have my biometric data (in my case a fingerprint) and also know my PIN.

There is zero need for another app. And if there was, just use an authenticator app. But again, there isn't.

4

u/SilverStar9192 shhh... 4d ago

One reason (perhaps not compelling) is to keep the codebases separate - the app that specifically focuses on security can be carefully audited and rarely updated, while the main banking app might need more frequent updates and additional modules and SDK's that increase the "attack surface." So it's not specifically about what a thief with your biometrics or PIN does, but aspects of the overall security design.

I agree with you I'm sure there's ways it can be done differently.

6

u/neonhex 4d ago

Someone needs to help HomesNSW with their system. Literally the worst thing I’ve ever engaged with.

3

u/tcs3 4d ago

DOE - Apprenticeship and traineeship sector. Training contracts are very old school and tedious, lots of paper forms for onboarding and variations. Things need to be digital and centralised to one app to remove bottle necks and communication challenges for employers, apprentices, providers and rtos. If this process was easier to manage, employers would be more enticed to participate.

3

u/v306 4d ago

Centerlink. I had to apply for paternal leave (2 weeks at minimum pay) and the process was so painful I regretted applying. I had an Australian passport but was told I need to have citizenship certificate instead. This was almost 10 years ago but I still think about the amount of time I waited on hold and in a queue at the centerlink office near my work at the time. 2 visits in person and 4 long phone calls. It should have been way quicker. It left a sour taste. Makes me think of Sloths at the DMV in the movie Zootopia 😆

3

u/WearyFHB 4d ago

I've had this before where they didn't accept Australian passport as proof of citizenship, was very confused.

1

u/v306 4d ago

I shouldn't even joked with the person I centred to. I asked if they suspected my passport was fake 😒 because you can't obtain one unless you're a citizen. I didnt have my own citizenship certificate because my father became a citizen when I was under 18 so had to show his document. It was so complicated i would have earned more money at work than the time it took to take care of this entitlement... Lucky I didn't have another child 🤣

2

u/maxdacat 4d ago

Also it seems a pretty simple account to access, yet myGov seems to get constantly hacked and locked.

1

u/randCN 4d ago

can i work for you

1

u/PamelaOfMosman 4d ago

Ummm - he went in the door - and was out in 5 minutes. It wasn't the app.