Chapter Summary
These results reflect 5,103 respondents' trust. satisfaction and experience with Australian public services.
Reasons
83% of people had at least one reason to access Australian public services in the last 12 months.
Financial
Around 1 in 2 people access services to receive financial assistance.
Channels
myGov, phone and in-person are the three most common channels used to access services.
Age
Young people (18-24 years) report greater effort navigating multiple services.
Feedback
19% provided feedback to services. Just one third of people were satisfied with how their complaint or suggestion for change was handled.
Services
Almost 1 in 3 access two or more services for the same reason (e.g. having a baby).
Trust
31% of respondents trust Australian public services. 10% distrust.
Choice
36% would like greater choice in the channels they use to access services.
Place
Trust in regional areas is lower (27%) than in major cities (32%).
The Future
More than 1 in 3 people think Australian public services need to change to meet the needs of all Australians.
Journey
Common reasons include submitting a tax return, looking for work and travelling overseas. Services provided by Centrelink, Medicare and the ATO are the most commonly used.
Satisfaction
52% were satisfied with services accessed. How they were treated by staff was rated highest, being kept aware of progress and service wait times was lowest rated.
Coordination
Less than a third (29%) of multi-service users understand how services work together and slightly over a third (34%) know what services to access and when to access them.
Income
Low income earners have lower expectations, less satisfaction and higher distrust of services.
Change
25% trust Australian public services to successfully implement changes required to meet the needs of all Australians.
Most people have a reason to access Australian public services each year
People have many life events. Some are significant events such as having a baby, entering the workforce, or developing a chronic health condition. Some events are more routine, such as maintaining a licence or submitting taxes. Many of these events become a reason to access Australian public services.
According to Survey results, in the last twelve months, most respondents had at least one life event which became a reason to access Australian public services (83%). Almost one in five respondents had no reason to seek access to Australian public services (17%).
Where respondents had a reason to seek access to services, most accessed services for themselves (85%).
This is further explored on Page 5.
The top reason to access Australian public services was to submit a personal tax return (55% of respondents)
This result is lower than expected as a proportion of respondents may use a third party agent (e.g. an accountant) to submit a tax return on their behalf and do not recognise they are using a service. Other top reasons are travelling overseas (21%), looking for work (19%), undertaking or updating a registration (19%), participating in a research or engagement activity (17%), and experiencing a chronic condition, injury or illness (15%).
People may access more than one service for a reason
For example, to submit a personal tax return, most people only interact with the Australian Tax Office (ATO).
A high proportion of people also access two or more services for the same reason (32%). Services provided by Centrelink, the ATO and Medicare are the most accessed in descending order (Further information see Number of Services).
Over half of respondents accessing services are seeking financial assistance (53%)
Over a third of respondents access services for a compliance or registration purpose (34%), for example to provide information to a public body on request. A smaller proportion of the sample have a non-financial purpose (10%), for example, to seek information or access to training. Only three per cent of respondents have a civic participation purpose, for example, to write a submission as a means to access services (Further information see In Focus - Financial Assistance).
31% of respondents trust Australian public services
They are always there to help you.
Just under one third of respondents trust Australian public services (31%). This is higher than trust respondents place in others (interpersonal trust is 22%).
The majority of respondents are non-aligned (somewhat trust, neither trust nor distrust, somewhat distrust) on their trust in Australian public services (59%). One in ten report they distrust Australian public services (10%).
More respondents who are non-aligned on their trust report they somewhat trust Australian public services (28%), than neither trust nor distrust (21%) or somewhat distrust (10%) services (Further information see Trust and the non-aligned).
The inclination to trust services is positive with 59 per cent of respondents somewhat trusting or trusting services.
No single driver of trust significantly stands out
There are a range of drivers of trust. These reflect the ability of an institution to be competent (reliable and responsive) and uphold values (be open and honest, have integrity and be fair). Survey responses show no single driver significantly stands out from the others in driving trust in Australian public services. There is least agreement that Australian public services are responsive (27%) and fair (28%). There is greater agreement that services are open and honest (30%) and have integrity (31%).
Over half of respondents were satisfied with services
Overall, respondents report higher service satisfaction (52%) than service trust (31%)
Less than one in ten are dissatisfied with services (9%).
Respondents report greatest satisfaction with how they are treated (respect), getting what they need, staff knowledge and actions, service access and consistency, and information accuracy (all >50%). Respondents report least satisfaction with understanding how personal information is used and stored (44%); and being kept aware of progress and wait times throughout (43%).
When respondents seek access to services, just under one third think accessing those services takes a lot of effort (31%).
The majority of respondents (53%) report using one channel to engage services (e.g. myGov, email, phone, in-person)
But 41 per cent use two or more channels. myGov is the most common channel (67%), followed by phone (30%), in-person (26%) and APS websites (19%).
Over half of respondents who use APS websites as a channel to engage with services are satisfied (58%).
Respondents report lower satisfaction when using phone and/or in-person channels (43% and 46% respectively).
Most respondents report they would not change how they engage with services (63%). The remaining 37 per cent indicated they would like greater choice in how they access services. This includes 17 per cent of respondents who report they want to change the way they engage with services in the future, and 20 per cent who report they cannot change their channel/s of engagement.
Just under one in every five respondents (19%) provide feedback to services
Of those who provide feedback, 43 per cent provide a compliment, 33 per cent make a suggestion for change, and 24 per cent submit a complaint.
Under one third of respondents who make a suggestion for change or complaint are satisfied with how their feedback is handled (32%). Twenty-two per cent are dissatisfied with how their feedback is handled (Further information see Feedback).
Looking forward, more than one third of respondents (38%) agree Australian public services need to change in future to meet the needs of all Australians
A small number of respondents (4%) disagree change is required.
Only a quarter of respondents trust Australian public services to implement these changes in the future.
I had questions concerning my job. These questions were specific, and it wasn't possible to find the information online, however, the government agencies were not able to help me or re-delegate me to someone who can.
Accessing Australian public services for someone else
Fifteen per cent of respondents report accessing services on behalf of someone else. On these occasions, three-quarters of respondents report two or more reasons to access services.
Submitting a personal tax return (51%) and travelling overseas (24%) are the top two reasons for accessing services on behalf of another person. Experiencing a chronic condition, injury or illness is the third highest reason (22%).
Almost half of these respondents access two or more services for the same reason (47%). Centrelink, Medicare and the ATO (in this order) are the top three services accessed. There is also considerable engagement with My Aged Care, NDIS, Child Support and the PBS (10-12%).
Most commonly used services
Here are the fifteen most accessed services. Centrelink, ATO and Medicare are the top three most used services*.
- Centrelink
- Australian Taxation Office
- Medicare
- Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
- Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
- Child Support
- Department of Jobs and Small Business**
- My Aged Care
- Department of Home Affairs
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
- National Disability Insurance Scheme
- Department of Veteran's Affairs
- Fair Work Ombudsman
- Parks Australia
- Customs and Biosecurity
* It is recognised that this list reflects a mix of services, Departments and Agencies, and programs Survey participants accessed to receive services. Cognitive testing demonstrated participants more easily recognise services they have used when they are provided in a mixed format.
** Respondents were surveyed prior to the Department of Jobs and Small Business being renamed in May 2019
Satisfaction by reason
People experience many life events such as having a baby or entering the workforce. When people experience these life events. they may have a reason to access Australian public services. The diagram below shows the three reasons with the highest service satisfaction. and three reasons with lowest service satisfaction. For example. for people who used services while travelling overseas. 71 per cent were satisfied.
