Output 2.1 Access Canberra
Overview
The directorate, through Access Canberra, provided protection to the community through a one-stop shop for ACT Government customer and regulatory services. Access Canberra made access to government services for the community and business easier and simpler by providing an effective service hub through shopfronts, the contact centre and online services.
Under this output the directorate provided over 700 different types of services to the ACT community through, amongst others: registering births, deaths, marriages and changes of name; issuing driver licences; inspecting and registering cars; issuing certificates of occupancy for houses and undertaking electrical, plumbing and gas inspections for new and existing buildings; providing advice on consumer rights and faulty household products; and licensing trades people.
The directorate focused on adopting a risk-based approach to compliance and enforcement to ensure that resources are targeted to where the risks of harm, unsafe practices or misconduct are the greatest, thereby strengthening its capacity to take action where the community, workers and the environment are most at risk. This regulatory approach utilises an engage, educate and enforce model which builds an understanding of regulatory obligations within the community and encourages compliance with various pieces of legislation.
Highlights
The 2018 Access Canberra customer satisfaction survey revealed that the overall satisfaction with Access Canberra increased to 89%, specifically:
- satisfaction with service centres reaching 96% mainly as a result of customers being able to complete a transaction in one visit and the excellent service provided by staff; and
- the satisfaction rating for the website increasing from 83% in 2017 to 90% in 2018. 61% of respondents reported they had accessed the website. This is significantly higher than last year’s result of 52%.
In 2017-18 the directorate, through Access Canberra:
- provided efficient service delivery;
- made doing business in the ACT easier;
- grew the number of online services;
- delivered and facilitated availability of information online which is easily accessible;
- reduced the regulatory burden for those businesses doing the right thing by undertaking risk based inspection activities, making it easier to do business in the ACT;
- undertook inspection and investigation activities aimed securing compliance with the law; and
- supported a range of statutory office holders.
Efficient service delivery
- welcomed more than 406,000 customers through its Service Centres where over 550,000 transactions were completed;
- the average wait time at Service Centres was 10 minutes 22 seconds and the average transaction time was 8 minutes 8 seconds;
- 67,500 items of feedback were left at the Q-Flow pedestals in the 2017-18 financial year, with customers scoring customer service at an average of 4.85 out of 5; ease of access at 96.6% and the ability to complete a transaction during one visit at 97.4%;
- recorded more than 3 million visits to the Access Canberra website and received close to 650,000 phone calls;
- implemented an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) on 18 August 2017 to give priority to calls concerning work safety and urgent public safety issues (e.g. injured wildlife, sharps, issues with roads);
- expanded the webchat service to offer a more personalised experience, 12,719 webchats were handled by the Contact Centre;
- centralised a Complaints Management Team (CMT) which commenced on 1 July 2017 and managed 9,164 complaints; and
- increased the use of credit cards and non-cash payment systems on all ACT Government parking machines with 75.2% of all payments now being electronic.
Made doing business in the ACT easier
- assisted event organisers in obtaining 479 approvals across 263 events and supported 10 new liquor businesses to commence trading; and
- visited 94 businesses engaged in a Working with Vulnerable People (WWVP) regulated activity, resulting in 556 individual registration checks.
Made services available online and complete services online
- simplified forms, making them more accessible, with 330 services now offered online, and processed more than 6.4 million online transactions;
- launched the redesigned Access Canberra website which included new features such as a prominent search bar, pictorial selection of services, addition of feature articles to the home page, and topic based pages, allowing for the promotion of key initiatives;
- introduced improvements to Fix My Street including a redesign for trees and shrubs, street lights and pot holes reporting which now includes real time delivery of incidents to depots and enables the closing of the feedback loop;
- accepted 3,251,880 web sessions through the Access Canberra website and 61,954 feedback submissions;
- introduced an online Working With Vulnerable People renewal form to provide simpler and faster renewals;
- introduced online driver licence renewals and the ability for drivers to submit driver licence medical and eye test reports online. The online driver licence service commenced on 4 September 2017, and at 5 July 2018 more than 19,000 driver licences had been renewed online;
- provided motorists with the option of disputing or seeking withdrawal of parking and traffic camera infringement online. In 2017-18 more than 6,600 online applications were received;
- work commenced to enable motorists issued with a parking or traffic camera infringement notice to notify online who incurred the infringement if they were not the driver. Once this information is received, the infringement notice will be transferred to the person responsible for the offence; and
- the vehicle inspection station at Hume, designed to allow inspection of light vehicles and heavy vehicle combinations including B-Doubles and trailers, continued to assist customers with online bookings and introduced some service centre services such as issuing an Unregistered Vehicle Permit (UVP) and recording government inspections so that both light and heavy vehicles registration renewals can be renewed online.
- through the development of a fair trading portal that provides a one-stop shop for consumer and business fair trading information. The portal offers a quick and easy way for the community to lodge a complaint. It also brings together resources and tools in the one place, saving time, and supporting businesses to understand their rights and responsibilities;
- developed the Worksafe ACT portal that provides a one-stop shop for consumer and business WorkSafe information. The portal offers a quick and easy way for the community to report a workplace issue;
- through the development of a Justice of the Peace (JP) online register, customers can now locate an ACT Justice of the Peace in a number of ways: online search, visit a signing centre or phone. ACT JP’s can also log into the Access Canberra website to update their personal profile;
- through the development of a FixMyStreet (MySuburb) dashboard, customers can now track current jobs online, see certain types of services scheduled per suburb as well as notifications and updates;
- through the development of a new digital public registers for incorporated associations, historic death index, historic marriage index, building and pest inspectors, occupational discipline register;
- through the development of an operational licences register where people can search if a person or business is registered or licensed in a specific industry;
- through the development of an online infringement image viewer. From 18 May 2018 customers were able to view their infringement image online. The images available through this service are for offences detected by ACT fixed mobile cameras only;
- with the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate completed scanning aerial imagery dating back over 50 years and as a result aerial imagery of the ACT is available to the public free of charge on ACTMAPi; and
- the first release of ACTLIS (ACT Land Information System) went live on 10 May 2018 allowing increased accessibility to the Land Titles Register. Customers can now access this service from any location using normal browsers from PCs, tablets and mobile phones. Previously customers would either have to use a solicitor, conveyancer, email or attend the office with the suburb, section and block details to order a title search. ACTLIS has opened up searching so that any member of the public can logon, enter a street address and obtain a search saving them time and money.
Delivered and facilitated availability of information online which is easily accessible
Reduced regulatory burden on business
- reduced timeframes for assessment for a range of regulated activities;
- implemented the Traders (Licensing) Act 2016 thus simplifying the licensing regime for four traders categories: motor vehicle repairers, motor vehicle dealers, second-hand dealers and pawnbrokers;
- progressed work on the government’s commitment to growing outdoor dining on public unleased land and reducing outdoor dining fees. A total of 42 new permits were issued under the Public Unleased Land Act 2013 activating further public spaces in the ACT for outdoor dining, hawking activities and verge permits;
- progressed implementation of the government’s regulatory reforms for charities to make it easier for the non-profit sector to meet ACT and Commonwealth reporting requirements;
- implemented the government’s commitments to barrier free conveyancing and foreign ownership register data sharing with the Commonwealth;
- from 1 July 2017, the directorate has been collecting data to facilitate the ongoing provision of sales and transfer data to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to support delivery and maintenance of the National Register of Foreign Ownership of Land Titles;
- on 18 September 2017, the system for collecting conveyancing duty (stamp duty) on property transactions was changed to the new Barrier Free Model. The new model applies to all conveyance transactions executed on or after 18 September 2017 that are required to be registered on the Land Titles Register. This model also removes the need for customers to attend a Shopfront for stamp duty assessments and payments;
- continued to support events and business initiatives by approving 40 authorisations for extended trading hours for special events including Soccer World Cup, ANZAC Day and live music functions; and
- coordinated joint compliance inspection programs across industries and reduced impacts to businesses, including:
- a retail awareness program at major shopping centres to engage with retailers to promote the functions of Access Canberra and to provide advice about obligations under the Australian consumer law, workers compensation legislation, work safety and food legislation. Inspectors also actively promoted the directorate’s small business self-help website, http://comply.accesscanberra.act.gov.au/c/comply ; and
- covered liquor, wagering, security and health at several high risk events including the Canberra Greyhound Racing Club’s annual Canberra Cup, Oktoberfest, Multicultural Festival, Royal Canberra Show and ACT Melbourne Cup activities.
Undertook inspection and investigation activities aimed at securing compliance with the law
- conducted 240 WWVP compliance activities, resulting in 5,312 registration checks;
- conducted 1,760 WWVP registration checks through desktop audits;
- identified 18 instances of non-compliance with WWVP legislative framework, with the majority of issues relating to a failure to produce the registration card on request and not holding a valid registration – in these instances investigators took the approach of engaging and educating individuals to have their WWVP cards with them when undertaking a registered activity or assisting them to become registered under the WWVP scheme;
- conducted 94 investigations into the alleged breaches of the Working With Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Act 2011 resulting in 11 suspended registrations, including two suspension decisions which were appealed to ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT);
- implemented the Licence Plate Recognition (LPR) cameras. The LPR systems provide greater access to parking spaces (through turnover) for all drivers, by encouraging drivers to comply with parking time limits;
- implemented a new traffic camera infringement notice adjudication system. The system enhances the detection of offences resulting in the issuing of more infringement notices to deter unsafe driving behaviours. Motorists also have the ability to view the infringement image online;
- undertook 57,931 total on-road inspections, comprising of 56,327 light vehicles and 1,604 heavy vehicles and resulting in 1,464 vehicle safety defects being identified and issued with a defect notice and 2,174 warnings issued;
- conducted monthly examinations for all individuals applying for a Class C Builder’s licence:
- a total of 61 individuals have sat the Class C Builders examination;
- 50 individuals were successful and were issued a Class C Builders licence;
- 11 individuals were unsuccessful and were refused a Class C Builders licence; and
- conducted a number of targeted engagement activities focusing on a range of matters including: licensing of persons within the real estate industry, toy safety, major events (including liquor and security licensing compliance) prohibited liquor advertising, motor vehicle repairer and dealer industries to ensure compliance with Australian Consumer Law obligations and licensing requirements, the X-Films industry to ensure appropriate advertising of classified material and engaging with retirement village residents in relation to legislative provisions and scam awareness;
- engaged with real estate agents to secure compliance with the requirements in the Agents Act 2003 to lodge trust account audits within the prescribed period;
- referred four matters to the ACAT related to a contravention of the Agents Act 2003 where agents failed to undertake a trust account audit within the prescribed period. All matters were successful with range of disciplinary orders imposed;
- undertook a range of construction inspections and investigations including:
- 8,581 inspections of new electrical work;
- 11,464 random inspections of alterations and additions to existing electrical installations;
- 13,038 inspections of plumbing installations;
- 2,668 inspections of gas installations; and
- 891 Energy and Construction audits for the Building Act 2004 and the Energy rating assessments;
- undertook a range of operations and inspections under the Environment Protection Act 1997 including:
- issued 33 Environmental Authorisations (EA’s), bringing the number of EA’s currently administered by the EPA to 286;
- entered into 40 Environmental Agreements, bringing the number of agreements currently administered by the EPA to 192;
- endorsed 93 erosion and sediment control plans;
- received and responded to 542 contaminated Land Search enquiries;
- undertook 1,535 inspections of development sites and contaminated sites; and
- commented on 584 Development Applications as referred from the Planning and Land Authority and the National Capital Authority;
- continued cooperation with the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator to participate in coordinated compliance and enforcement activities which has included a range of targeted campaigns, resulting in the inspection of 195 heavy vehicles (prime movers, B- Doubles, buses, semi-trailers) to ensure compliance; and
- undertook a range of fair trading compliance and enforcement activities including:
- provided advice and support to people about their consumer rights under fair trading legislation;
- utilised a risk based approach to complaints management that ensures resources are directed to areas of greatest need; and
- engaged with and educated traders about their obligations under fair trading legislation with a view to reaching a satisfactory resolution for clients, particularly in relation to the Australian Consumer Law, regulated industries such as motor vehicle dealers and repairers, management of units plan and with residential building issues;
Key statistics for services offered by the directorate
- the Environment, Land and Planning Shopfront at Dickson:
- lodged 1,454 Development Applications;
- issued 1,197 Compliance Certificates;
- processed 1,762 Exemption Declaration applications;
- provided 934 fingerprint services;
- issued 321 ACT Access Cards;
- processed 844 Land Access Activity Notices; and
- processed 1,402 Deposited Plan requests.
- the Building Services Shopfront in Mitchell:
- processed 4,638 Building approvals;
- issued 4,241 Certificates of Occupancy and Use;
- processed 2,533 Building file requests;
- processed 6,930 Energy Efficiency Rating returns;
- prepared 5,812 Building Conveyancing reports;
- prepared 11,832 Lease Conveyancing reports;
- booked 19,388 plumbing inspections;
- booked 18,473 electrical inspections;
- registered 23,229 Plumbing plans and permits, backflow and minor works permits; and
- registered 29,303 Certificates of Electrical Safety;
- under the Liquor Act 2010 issued a total:
- 704 of commercial and non-commercial liquor permits;
- 60 new liquor licences including;
- 11 OFF Licences;
- 39 ON Licences;
- 9 GENERAL Licences;
- 1 CLUB Licence;
- processed 1,528 quarterly instalment payments; and
- processed 476 liquor licence renewals/conversions to perpetual licences.
- registered:
- 6,507 births, issuing 13,206 certificates;
- 1,013 change of names, issuing 618 certificates;
- 1,529 marriages, issuing 2,969 certificates;
- 5 civil unions, issuing 3 certificates;
- 73 civil relationships, issuing 385 certificates; and
- 2,376 deaths, issuing 3,178 certificates.
- facilitated business and economic growth whilst minimising risks to the community by issuing a range of licences, registrations and appointments in accordance with relevant regulatory requirements:
- 1,236 new Security Employees, 852 renewals;
- 67 Security Master, 68 renewals;
- 131 Real Estate/Business/Stock & Station Agents, 546 renewals;
- 14 Motor Vehicle Dealers, 28 renewals;
- 22 Motor Vehicle Repairers, 113 renewals;
- 11 Brothels, 20 renewals;
- 205 Associations Incorporated;
- 2 Pawnbroker renewals;
- 9 Second Hand Dealers, 10 renewals;
- 57 Employment Agents, 60 renewals;
- 1 Charitable Collections; and
- 75 Justice of the Peace.
- issued:
- 8,119 licences for Construction Occupations;
- 2,516 General Construction Induction Cards;
- 169 High Risk Work Licences;
- 363 Architects Registrations; and
- 51 Work Health and Safety licences and permits.
- the directorate resolved many building and planning complaints by working with the community. The team:
- received 366 complaints related to planning laws;
- received 546 complaints related to construction laws;
- settled 226 cases, a case may include multiple complaints and complaints that cover both building and planning issues; and
- the directorate, within the broader construction industry issued a total of 11,218 licences, registration and permits;
- processed 33,855 applications (new and renewals) for WWVP registrations;
- there are 15 Transport Booking Services now providing Taxi, Hire Car and Rideshare services across the ACT. This included:
- 2,269 rideshare drivers and licensed rideshare vehicles accredited in the ACT; and
- numbers of taxi and hire car licensed drivers also increased; and
- the Land Titles Office received a total of 63,792 lodgements and registered 65,160 documents under the Land Titles Act 1925.
Supported the ACT Work Safety Commissioner
- successfully prosecuted two matters:
- one business in relation to its demolition of a Mr Fluffy house over its failure to comply with its work health and safety duty, resulting in the company being ordered to pay a fine of $60,000; and
- another in relation to unsafe work practices involving asbestos. The penalties included fines totalling $1,980 plus additional clean-up costs of $248,000;
- conducted 4,134 workplace inspections resulting in:
- 205 Improvement Notices issued under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011;
- 95 Prohibition Notices issued under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011;
- four Improvement Notices issued under the Dangerous Substances Act 2004; and
- one Prohibition Notice being issued under the Dangerous Substances Act 2004;
- conducted 2,424 proactive workplace inspections across a number of industries. 350 of those workplace inspections included Events such as Summernats, The Canberra Show, National Multicultural Festival, National Folk Festival, NSW/ACT Cross Border Construction Project and targeted audit activity such as the Apprentice and Young Workers Campaign;
- undertook oversight of safe demolition activities in relation to the government’s Loose-fill Asbestos Insulation Eradication Scheme, including:
- worked with the Asbestos Response Taskforce (ART) and Procurement and Capital Works to provide ongoing regulatory information, guidance and advice to assist in the ongoing delivery of the Scheme;
- conducted 867 workplace inspections with no significant safety concerns identified; and
- enhanced internal governance processes and procedures in response to the Auditor General Report No.1 of 2017 WorkSafe ACT’s Management of its Regulatory Responsibilities of the Demolition of Loose-fill Asbestos Contaminated Houses (further information on the report recommendations and actions taken can be found in section B3 Scrutiny);
- continued to work closely with SafeWork NSW on the NSW/ACT Cross Border Construction Project 2016-2019, which aims to increase coordination and cooperation between jurisdictions at a number of levels to create a cultural change in the construction industry, with joint inspections to take place four times a year. In April 2018, a breakfast was held at Ainslie Football Club with 150 attending. The theme of the breakfast was Mental Health of Young Workers in Construction and also included the ongoing focus of Falls from Heights. The program will continue into the new financial year with an additional two seminars scheduled;
- produced a periodic industry newsletter and other communiques to over 13,000 individual subscribers covering information on construction, environment and workplace matters;
- worked closely with Skills Canberra and other stakeholders on concerns regarding apprentice and young workers. As a result, WorkSafe commenced workplace visits along with a number of information sessions to Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) and Group Training Organisations (GTOs) across the Electrical and Plumbing Industries. This included discussions with over 144 young workers to ensure they are receiving appropriate supervision and training especially on work health and safety issues relevant to their industry; and
- developed a variety of education and guidance material with key safety messages distributed through social media platforms;
Supported the ACT Work Safety Commissioner as part of Healthier Work Program
- conducted 149 Healthier Work workplace visits and assisted 35 workplaces to create a 12 month health and wellbeing plan to become ‘Healthier Work Recognised’ (first year of recognition);
- evaluated the plans of 34 workplaces which have now become ‘Healthier Work Recognised Silver Status’ (second year of recognition);
- evaluated the plans of 14 ‘Healthier Work Recognised Silver Status’ workplaces which have now become ‘Healthier Work Recognised Gold Status’ (third year of recognition);
- evaluated the plans of 10 ‘Healthier Work Recognised Gold Status’ workplaces which have now become ‘Healthier Work Recognised Gold Status’ (fourth year of recognition);
- assisted 6,155 Canberrans make the healthy choice the easier choice within the workplace setting;
- partnered with the Canberra Business Chamber to deliver four training sessions on creating healthier work environments to 54 attendees and delivered ten mentoring sessions to 152 Healthier Work champions in workplaces;
- held two Healthier Work breakfasts attended by over 200 participants to recognise workplaces who have completed their first, second or third year of the program, including a breakfast in conjunction with the Physical Activity Foundation; and
- held a Healthier Work Day Forum with 150 attendees.
The directorate met three and exceeded four out of ten accountability indicators against this output and did not meet the other three targets. The targets exceeded by more than 5% were:
- Percentage of services completed online - where there has been a greater than forecast take up of online services (including online Driver Licence renewals);
- Compliance rate during targeted campaign inspections - where the effectiveness in initial and on-going engagement has meant that there has been less requirement for education and/or enforcement activities; and
- Compliance activities: engage, educate, enforce - as effectiveness in initial and on-going engagement has meant that there has been less requirement for education and/or enforcement activities.
The targets not met by more than 5% were:
- Percentage of the Canberra community satisfied with the ease of interacting with Access Canberra - where the overall ease of dealing rating remained steady from 2016-17. The rating for ease of dealing was anticipated to increase with additional digital service offerings but this has not occurred; and
- Reduction of regulatory burden on business by undertaking risk-based coordinated inspection activities - where due to a change in circumstances there was a need to delay the completion of two planned programs until 2018-19. This reduction in planned activity levels has contributed to the result.
Future Direction
In 2018-19, the directorate will continue to:
- expand the digital service offering, aiming for 80% of services being available digitally by 2020;
- evaluate, and where necessary adapt our service delivery model to harness changes in technology and better deliver services to the community;
- apply a risk based approach to regulation and compliance to ensure attention is focused on the areas of greatest harm to the community;
- use various sources of intelligence and data to better inform our compliance and engagement activities with the community and regulated industries;
- engage with and educate industries to ensure they understand their obligations under legislation;
- identify further opportunities for coordinated compliance activities across a range of regulatory responsibilities;
- help grow and diversify the economy by reducing red tape and working with industry, particularly the hospitality and gaming industries, and the events sector;
- provide support to the Gambling and Racing Commission;
- provide regulatory oversight of Light Rail development including the dedicated allocation of three WorkSafe ACT inspectors to monitor health and safety on worksites; and
- focus on proactive initiatives and targeted workplace inspections based on complaints monitoring and data intelligence.
Further information can be obtained from
Dave Peffer
Deputy Director-General
Access Canberra
+61 2 6205 5169
Dave.Peffer@act.gov.au