The federal government has turned to the banking sector for leadership to get its "digital transformation" project back on track.
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Gavin Slater, a former executive for Group Business Services at National Australia Bank, has been announced as the new chief executive of the government's Digital Transformation Agency.
Mr Slater will replace career public servant Nerida O'Loughlin who has led the agency since its re-invention in October 2016.
Digital Transformation Minister Angus Taylor, who has often cited the big banks as organisations who have mastered digital service delivery, announced the appointment on Wednesday morning.
The minister said Mr Slater, who left NAB in July 2016, spent seven years driving "a widespread digital transformation agenda across large, customer service businesses" and had "led initiatives that overhauled NAB's technology environment and delivered significantly improved customer experience."
"Gavin has a proven track record in driving transformational change to respond to digital disruption," the minister said.
The Digital Transformation Agency was relaunched with a new name and new leadership in November after the project became bogged down amidst bureaucratic turf wars in Canberra.
The minister said Mr Slater understood the scope of the challenge facing government as it looked to drag its service delivery up to date.
"He well understands the challenges faced by government agencies as they seek to transform their own services to better meet the needs of users," Mr Taylor said.
Mr Slater joins the agency as its role expands, overseeing much of the federal government's IT expenditure which has soared in value to nearly $10 billion this financial year, up from $6 billion just two years ago.
The larger role will also see the DAT lead a overhaul of the public service's troubled technology effort, putting more than 100 projects, each worth more than $10 million, under the microscope.
Labor's digital economy spokesman Ed Husic welcomed Mr Slater's appointment.
"We might have our disagreements with the banks but they're recognised largely for what they've been able to do in digital services," the Labor frontbencher said.
"The first order of duty for Gavin Slater as the new CEO is to undertake a thorough review into what's gone on, commission this independent review that Labor is calling for and make sure we get better government digital transformation as opposed to the wreck that we've had so far."
Mr Husic cited the Bureau of Statistics' notorious Census fail, the big ATO website crashes of early 2017, the Centrelink robo-debt debacle and the Child Support Agency's pay system upgrade that is over-due, over budget and costing $100,000 a day in consultant's fees.
"We've had very little accountability and very little explanation," he said.
"There is no thorough review of what exactly has gone on and whether this government has learned the mistakes.
"Because when you look at the last 12 months it's been tech-wreck after tech-wreck and there's been little explanation as to what's gone on.
"And there's a big cost involved as well."
