By Digital Transformation
The Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia (SIFA), recognises that:
- All Australian Governments acknowledge the importance of improving the accessibility and availability of government services online by transforming services to be simple, clear, and fast.
- The Commonwealth has established the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) and requires all agencies who are designing or redesigning transactional and informational services after 6th May 2016 to meet Digital Service Standards criteria.
- All states and territories have made similar commitments and investments to the Commonwealth regarding digital transformation and enhanced service delivery through digitalisation.
- The Productivity Commission Inquiry Report into Data Availability and Use in 2017 found that.
- Increased sharing of data across the public and private sectors could improve the integrity of systems and increase administrative efficiency.
- Data frameworks and protections developed prior to sweeping digitisation need reform.
- Marginal changes to existing structures and legislation will not suffice.
Key messages:
- Public safety is being undermined by the ongoing reliance by Australia’s firearm regulators on outdated 19th century systems and processes.
- The disjointed approach to firearm regulation in Australia means that there is no singular vision on how the many benefits of digitalisation can be achieved across the firearms sector.
- Heavily regulated sectors such as the Australian firearms industry rely on governments to play their role as an important part of a globally integrated end to end secure supply chain, to ensure pubic safety and to minimise the compliance overheads endured by industry.
SIFA position:
- All firearm regulators in Australia must be directed by their responsible Minister to develop a digital transformation roadmap and migration schedule in a timely manner.
- To ensure that all firearm management systems are fit for purpose, SIFA will actively oppose the introduction of any system which is developed outside government mandated service delivery or security frameworks.
- The Firearms and Weapons Policy Working Group must be held accountable for ensuring that all Ministerial advice regarding digital transformation and system interoperability is consistent across all jurisdictions.
- Where meaningful progress towards full digitalisation is not achievable within a reasonable timeframe, an interagency taskforce must be convened to identify and progress equivalent improvements for industry by other means, including urgent legislative and regulatory reform, and increased resourcing for regulators to reduce service delivery timeframes.
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