A Slew of IT initiatives have been earmarked at the Department of Human Services as the government seeks to increase productivity and efficiency.
As part of Budget 2013, $30 million will be provided over two years to enhance call centre services and reduce waiting times.
"This measure will provide DHS with greater capacity to answer calls during the peak period for customers in receipt of the Family Tax Benefit and/or claiming the Child Care Rebate (July through September)," budget papers revealed.
The improvements will come from a number of initiatives, including callback options; improving interactive voice response messaging; increasing the use of mobile phone applications for customer interactions with the department and improving business processes.
The department's Child Support System known as Cuba will be replaced from December 2015.
It supports the transfer of child support payments between separated parents to financially support over 1.2 million children annually, according to budget papers.
A number of efficiency measures will see the government achieve net savings of $62.4m over five years, including replacing the use of cheques with electronic funds transfers to GPs and specialists when making pay-doctor-via-claimant payments, and increasing the rate of online transactions undertaken by Austudy recipients.
DHS will develop a business case to identify options for the upgrade or replacement of the Income Security Integrated System, to be completed in 2015, the papers revealed.
ISIS is the main computer system used by the department to deliver welfare and family support payments, letters and assessments of income and assets for more than 100 government programs.
