Trying to find a way to get the federal assistance to which you might be entitled to can plunge the most well-informed person into a labyrinth of confusion.
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The internet was supposed to make the whole system far easier to negotiate, provided you had all the background information you needed on hand.
Tax returns, an online registration and a few personal details and it should be click this button, click that one and away you go, a payment in your bank account without having to move from the home computer.
But for anyone who has had to sit down at the screen for hours when they thought it might take a quarter of that time, only to have to still call the national help hotline the reality can be so different.
That perhaps is the unfortunate outcome of a confidence imbued in a new way of achieving efficiency before the mechanics of making it work have had enough time – and given enough resources – to catch up.
And now the myGov shop fronts have arrived – or specifically one for Albury, earning the honour of being the first such outlet in regional Australia.
It has the sensible modus operandi of giving existing and new customers the practical skills and tips on how to find their way around Department of Human Services and Australian Tax Office websites.
What might seem perfectly logical for a technically inclined government bureaucrat probably has a fair chance of possessing little of that for people just trying to get by.
Their priority is so different, focussed on trying to work out how to find enough money to keep their families afloat.
The website though has had major problems, something Human Services Minister Marise Payne readily admitted when she helped officially open the myGov shopfront in Albury on Friday.
Senator Payne reckons it will all work out in the end, pointing to a major technological overhaul expected in the months ahead.
Opposition human services spokesman Doug Cameron highlighted these problems, but was even more concerned at what he saw as a trend towards using technology at the expense of face-to-face contact.
It is vitally important then that anyone who wants to speak to somebody about their issues does not lose the opportunity to do so.
Ms Ley said the service centre had gained two dedicated learning hubs where customers learnt how to connect to government apps.
“myGov is a key element of transforming the way people do business with government, and is meeting a growing demand for digital services from government,” she said.