Labor has not learnt the lessons from its SafeWA rollout, access and cyber security failures.
The shaky rollout of the McGowan Government’s new “ServiceWA” app has proven to be a disservice to Western Australians struggling to get the software up and running.
Yesterday’s launch saw many thousands of West Australians stuck in a digital queue in the setup stages of their Digital ID.
Leader of the WA Liberals and Shadow Minister for Science, Innovation & ICT, Dr David Honey MLA, said the app’s execution has been poorly thought out and lacks convenience.
“I hope this is not an indicator of the new Minister for Health’s preparation of our public hospitals for Omicron, or more generally for the reopening of WA from 5th of February.
“Basically, this is a compulsory app for people to use in order to be able to enter public venues, yet WA Labor clearly did not anticipate high traffic complications on day one.
“If an app developer in the private sector had failed to account for high traffic on launch day they would be fired on the spot. Luckily for the developers of service WA, failure under Mark McGowan is not a fireable offence.
“ServiceWA has proven overly difficult for too many – the clunky setup features, the requirement of different apps needed to link accounts, the ability only to set it up on mobile phones with the latest operating software, and frankly it just isn’t a straightforward process.
“This is particularly the case for the elderly or non-technologically inclined people, who may not have the latest phones and updates to navigate all these apps and components.
Nearly every state and territory has a COVID vaccination certificate and check-in app, but WA Labor have left the rollout of theirs to mere weeks before reopening, leaving little time to sort out functional and set-up issues with the app.
Dr Honey suggested the app should be updated to include more options for checking into places and said the McGowan Labor Government must be clear on data breach concerns.
“I believe QR codes should be included on the app, scannable using the same software by business employees to check in those who are not as tech savvy.
“WA Labor also needs to come forward to reassure Western Australians the new app is not at risk of data breaches, as happened late last year with the SafeWA app, which is still a component of this new software”, said Dr Honey.
