The Federal Government has moved to streamline the use of authentication tools among departments and agencies.
In a statement, Minister for Finance and Deregulation Lindsay Tanner said three lead agencies would be appointed in early 2010 to manage the “delivery of authentication services across Australian Government agencies”.
“Along with minimizing duplication of authentication services in use by the Federal Government, the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) is currently developing solutions that provide people with the option of combining multiple accounts,” Tanner said in the statement.
He added the minimization of authentication services in the whole of government strategy, which is in line with the recommendations of the Gershon Review, would “save taxpayers money”.
“Importantly for individuals and businesses, preserving privacy is at the core of this policy and lead agencies will not have access to client information held by other agencies,” Tanner said.
The announcement comes a week after the government said it is embarking on a major reform of the agency responsible for Centrelink and Medicare, flagging considerable IT changes as a result.
Speaking to the National Press Club, the Minister for Human Services, Chris Bowen, said along with co-locating physical services such as Medicare and Centrelink, there will be a single website and phone number for all Human Services agencies by the end of 2010.