Mission 3
Build community trust through safe and efficient data practices.
Our goals
Technology is evolving constantly and rapidly. Our policies and practices must keep pace to ensure data is safe and that we embrace the opportunities that new technologies provide.
More than ever, we must prioritise meeting expectations that data is collected and managed responsibly, ethically and securely and used for the benefit of our community.
The NSW Government aims to take a proactive ‘collect once, build once and use often’ approach to data management. This approach delivers a streamlined experience for our customers. It also provides for increased consistency and efficiency in data management through shared and fit-for-purpose data platforms, tools and methods.
Our goal is to build community trust in government’s data practices through enhancing privacy and safety, by using data effectively to deliver the insights that government needs to build better communities, and by being accountable, efficient and transparent in managing and using data.
3A: Build community trust with strong and fit for purposes approaches to privacy and security
3B: Shared approach to emerging trends and technologies, including AI
How we’ll get there
3A: Build community trust with strong and fit for purposes approaches to privacy and security
Our aim is for NSW Government’s data practices to be coordinated, transparent and trusted. This includes being proactive and accountable in protecting and sharing data while also using it to best effect.
The way personal and sensitive information is handled and used is changing as technology advances. Governments are increasingly implementing safe data sharing practices to generate more holistic views and valuable insights that were previously unavailable. Advances in technology can also enhance protection of personal information.
To build community trust and social licence, the NSW Government must use and manage data responsibly and accountably. It must also provide true and clear information to the community about its data practices.
Advances and innovation in data use must be accompanied by effective data security and privacy mechanisms at the regulatory, policy and practice levels, along with exploring suitable approaches to social licence testing.
- Explore privacy enhancing technologies that make data sharing safer
- Monitor and assess the regulatory environment for data privacy and sharing and assess the need for regulatory change
- Inform the community about how government holds, manages and protects data, and uses it in decision making
- Explore approaches to building and testing social licence
- Adopt inclusion by design principles in data practice
- The NSW Government is improving ways to detect and mask personal information by developing and testing a personal identifier detection and masking tool using machine learning. The tool protects personal information without affecting the ability to use the data to gain valuable insights.
- The NSW Government is improving the way that personal information in images (for example, from speed cameras) is protected. By developing AI assessment processes and data retention policies, they ensure that image data is appropriately managed once features have been extracted. Faces and vehicle registration plates are automatically blurred.
- The NSW Government has updated its AI Assessment Framework9 to enhance risk management and assure safe, ethical and responsible use of AI, particularly generative AI, including data security and privacy.
- The NSW Government builds community trust by listening to the experiences and views of customers through Customer Experience Surveys. It is one of the largest public sector surveys of its kind in the world. The results are used to drive continuous improvement of services across the sector.
- The NSW Government undertook exploratory work on a conceptual framework for the ethical use of data, including community engagement and inclusion.
Chat to ASIC
3B: Shared approach to emerging trends and technologies, including AI
The exponential advancement and uptake of AI technologies in recent years highlights the need for government to take a planned, coordinated approach to addressing the challenges and opportunities of innovation. This includes being proactive in managing data practice implications.
A siloed approach to managing emerging technologies is likely to result in inefficient and inconsistent practice and duplication of effort.
Our aim is to embed proactive and shared methods for managing technological change. This includes developing strong data capability and literacy fundamentals along with coordinated solutions.
- Collectively develop a cross-sector plan and register of use cases to leverage emerging technologies
- The NSW AI strategy sets the direction for data management practices that support safe and ethical use of AI
- The NSW Government is improving road safety through its Mobile Phone Detection Camera program. The program uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) software to detect and review cases of illegal mobile phone10 use while driving, with several stages of human review and strict security and privacy protocols. Since its introduction, there has been a decline in camera-detected mobile phone offences with the rate falling from 1 in 82 drivers detected during a pilot period in 2019 to around 1 in 649 drivers detected over a 12-month period in 2023.
- The NSW Government conducted a survey to get community input on delivering better outcomes for people seeking housing and homelessness assistance. There were an 5,000 responses to the survey. The NSW Government was able to quickly draw insights from the survey responses by conducting an in-depth thematic analysis within 2 weeks using AI modelling. The analysis provided a holistic view with thematic groupings on areas that should be prioritised, maintained or changed.
- The NSW Government has developed an interactive tool that helps identify non-compliance relating to land tax and duties. The AI-powered tool also includes an efficient, secure and user-friendly chat interface to search for Australian Securities and Investments Commission data.
- NSW school students can safely explore the benefits of generative AI through NSWEduChat. Students and staff in NSW can engage with AI confidently knowing the tool is purpose-built to support teaching and learning. NSWEduChat offers a protected environment that prioritises data privacy and student safety, addressing the potential risks associated with generative AI use, such as exposure to harmful or inappropriate content.
- Completion of the NSW AI Assessment Framework compliance plan pilot, establishing a minimum standard for Agency Governance and Assurance oversight of AI.
- Co-development and publication of two guidelines: 'Identifying AI' and 'Understanding Responsibilities in AI Practices.'
- Formation of the cross-sector AI Working Group to share AI risk management best practices and evolve the NSW AI Assessment Framework.