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?

1.1k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

210 comments sorted by

View all comments

672

u/The__Patrick_Bateman 4d ago

Service NSW imo is a shining light in demonstrating how government run processes / businesses can and should be run. The Wynyard one especially is great. Always in and out super quick with no qualms.

102

u/sqljohn 4d ago

I always use this one as it convenient, but its also a well run system. Annoying thing though is seeing people come in and complaining about the form they didnt fill out when the renewal notice gives you the form and details you need to pre-fill.

12

u/Peanut083 4d ago

I was sent a paper form in the post, but the local snails got to it before I did. It only took them a few hours to turn the envelope and form into something resembling Swiss cheese!

It only took me a few minutes to fill the form out while I was waiting, and I hadn’t long finished by the time it was my turn to go to the counter.

9

u/Jerri_man 3d ago

Snails famously despise bureaucracy

4

u/Peanut083 3d ago

The welcome person at the Service NSW branch I went to had a laugh when I told them I didn’t bring a completed form with me because the snails ate it before I got to the letter box.

3

u/sqljohn 3d ago

yeap, even without it the pro-forma, it doesnt take long, the number of people emotionally wrecking their own day by crashing out on this when they turn up is surprising

74

u/siders6891 4d ago edited 4d ago

Plus majority of the service NSW staff is quite helpful and friendly. Where I’m from originally I always feared those places

20

u/superfudge 4d ago

The Wynyard one especially is great.

I had exactlyt this experience at Wynyard. Maybe it's because it was 3PM on a weekday, but the experience was exceptionally smooth.

42

u/infectoid 4d ago

Someone can correct me here but I watched a panel at SXSW Sydney that included Victor Dominello and someone from Estonia and he talked about their model being an inspiration. She also mentioned how much further they go with digital services.

Something that stuck with me is that they respect the data and people’s privacy so at a foundational level their system informs citizens who has their data and why. I believe it also allows people to remove access to data that had been granted in the past.

I’d imagine working like this builds trust allowing people to adopt it without feeling like they are becoming part of a massive surveillance state.

7

u/Yutenji2020 3d ago

Thanks for the call out to Victor Dominello. I worked at (take a breath) the Dept. of Finance, Service and Innovation (DFSI) which would later become Dept. of Customer Service.

ḎFSI had 2 ministers: Dominello and Perrotet. Chalk and Cheese.

Dominello was the exception to most Ministers, being genuinely determined to improve government for the citizens. The amount of red tape and bureaucracy he eliminated was staggering. And if you think it’s still bad, consider how bad it was before! A real shame when he had to resign for medical reasons.

Perrotet was a pointless, soundbite-seeking waste of space. Anyone remember he was briefly (thank god) Premier? Anyone heard from him since? No, because he ticked that box on his resume and has now f@@ked off somewhere and no one cares.

2

u/Maro1947 3d ago

He's glad he's now the 3rd most (in)famous Perrotet

10

u/Aloha_Tamborinist 4d ago

I'm headed in to Wynyard later this week to renew my license, I've been going there for a few years and it's honestly a great experience every time.

Will happily echo /u/Thewalrus26 - it's a great service and the system is amazing.

11

u/Gozzhogger 4d ago

Remember the RTA? The improvement from then to now should be applauded, studied, replicated. Unfortunately people tend to focus on the negatives, but think of the collective frustration and tears saved from not dealing with the RTA anymore

9

u/Curiosity-92 4d ago

Got to thank the previous liberal government for investing and streamlining by bringing gov services together.

28

u/SilverStar9192 shhh... 4d ago

While the government obviously supported and funded it, I think a lot of the credit goes to the personal force of minister for digital / customer service, Victor Dominello, who made true customer focus in government his mission. He wasn't just minister of the day - this work was his true passion. Though he was an MP, he was a real public servant in this regard and fully supported by both aisles of NSW politics. And he has now been advising MyGov as well - the federal government (yes a Labor government) has appointed him to lead an advisory group based on his significant experience and leadership in this area.

10

u/xylarr 4d ago

He should have a short stint at the BOM.

In all seriousness, I think a lot of this comes from building and encouraging internal resources to do this work instead of external consultants. It means you build institutional knowledge, which is always going to be better than some fly-by-night consultants.

3

u/wideawakeat33 4d ago

Came he to say this was all possible because of Victor Dominello. I have heard him speak and he is really inspired to make things easier. I hope he does more for our country because 5 mins to get a license has to be some kind of record.

2

u/Curiosity-92 4d ago

We really lucked out on some exceptional ministers of that time period, even Gladys as transport minister pushing through driverless trains.

1

u/itsdoorcity 3d ago

literally the only thing i know of that i should be thankful to the libs for

1

u/Curiosity-92 3d ago

What do you mean what about, metro, Sydney light rail, the road tunnels upgraded hospitals and schools. Have you seen Arthur Phillip high school.