Our priorities
The department continually builds on its foundation of service excellence to shape how government services are delivered to the Australian community.
The contribution of the department to the government’s agenda is reflected in its Outcome Statement which is to:
Support individuals, families and communities to achieve greater self-sufficiency; through the delivery of policy advice and high quality accessible social, health and child support services and other payments; and support providers and businesses through convenient and efficient service delivery.
The department works with other government agencies to provide access to government social and health-related services that support self-sufficiency through:
- the development of innovative and flexible service delivery policy that supports the implementation of government policy and programs
- the design and development of service delivery systems that are convenient and accessible, and meet the diverse needs of the community
- the provision of payments and services that match customers’ circumstances
- support for people to help them understand their rights and responsibilities and meet their obligations
- work with the public, private and non-government organisations, state and territory governments and other Australian Government departments and agencies to build partnerships for the delivery of services.
Key strategic priorities
The department’s strategic priorities for 2012–13 are:
- Improve our responsiveness to government and ensure that we understand and meet the priorities of the Minister and broader government.
- Ensure we have controls and processes in place to meet our strategic objectives, manage risks and make effective use of our resources.
- Make access to our services easier and more efficient. Where appropriate, move transactions from a personal service basis (face-to-face or phone) to self-managed mechanisms. Where possible, provide access to our services online, including from mobile devices.
- Through community and customer involvement, build services that better meet the needs of our customers and more closely match the way that people wish to interact with government.
- Seek input from relevant specialist sources, including service providers, practitioners and domain experts during the development of our services.
- Work closely with our partner agencies to shape government policy on service delivery and to develop new and innovative services.
- Continually evaluate the effectiveness of all our services using input from the community, customers, service providers and our partner agencies.
- Develop new, innovative and effective service approaches that support customer self-sufficiency and increase efficiency, while identifying and supporting those most in need.
- Work with other government agencies at all levels (including state, territory and local) to develop service approaches that maximise the ease of access to government services for all citizens, regardless of which level of government the services originate from.
For more information on the department’s strategic priorities, please read the Strategic Plan 2012–16. This outlines the path forward for the Department of Human Services. The plan describes the focus, priorities and commitments necessary to achieve our goals.