Conclusion

SV has delivered good customer satisfaction results for the limited services it offers. However, it has realised only a small proportion of the benefits expected in the Reform Program business case. 

In 2019–20, SV achieved transactional benefits of $6 million—well below the $53 million per year that the Reform Program business case predicted. It has also not achieved measurable improvement of people following government regulations and policy, as SV is only conducting about 1 per cent of government transactions. 

Population growth and changing consumer expectations are placing increasing pressure on the cost, timeliness and quality of government services. Digitising transactions can help to address this. 

The Victorian Government launched SV in 2015 to transform the way that government agencies deliver transactions to citizens, improve customer satisfaction, and reduce costs.

FIGURE D1: Variations to the DPC-MWC Inc contract

Matters referred to the Auditor-General

In June 2020, the Auditor-General received a referral that included allegations that:

• grant funds were used for partisan political campaigning
• centre staff were improperly directed to campaign at state and federal elections in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

Two media articles also reported the allegations during June 2020.

We have consulted with DPC, MWC Inc and VTHC, and we considered their views when reaching our review conclusions. As required by the Audit Act 1994, we gave a draft copy of this report, or relevant extracts, to those entities and asked for their submissions and comments. 

Responsibility for the accuracy, fairness and balance of those comments rests solely with the entity head.

We consulted with the reviewed entities and considered their views when reaching our conclusions. The entities’ full responses are in Appendix A. 

Responses to the allegations

VTHC

We asked VTHC about the allegations that:

• grant funds were used for political campaigning activities
• centre staff were directed to campaign at state and federal elections.

VTHC advised us that:

The 2017–18 Victorian Budget included funding of $2 million over two years to establish a new Migrant Workers Centre in Melbourne to advocate for exploited workers. 

In June 2017, the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) engaged a consultant to recommend arrangements for establishing the centre to the then Minister for Multicultural Affairs. The consultant’s report recommended that the centre:

FIGURE C1: Audit opinions issued for material entities