Digital NSW 2026 Showcase

Inclusive, connected services start with understanding the people who use them. Drawing on a digital pilot from the NSW Department of Communities and Justice, this session will explore how digital delivery can support more inclusive, connected services for victim-survivors.

• Designing services around people’s needs, safety and lived experience.
• Connecting support across service and organisational boundaries.
• Applying lessons from a digital pilot to inform more people-centred service design.

Realising the full potential of AI across government depends on more than deploying new technologies—it requires organisations to adapt how they lead, govern and work. As agencies move from experimentation to implementation, building the capability, governance and organisational foundations needed to scale AI safely and responsibly will be critical to delivering lasting public value.

• How AI is changing the nature of work, leadership and organisational capability across the public sector.
• Why technology alone does not scale AI, and the organisational capabilities required to realise value.
• The governance, enterprise platforms and leadership approaches needed to enable safe, trusted and scalable AI adoption.
• How leaders can prepare their organisations for AI-enabled ways of working while maintaining transparency, public trust and better outcomes for citizens

Digital inclusion is essential to ensuring every person can access and benefit from government services. This fireside chat will explore how Digital NSW is turning strategy into practical, whole-of-government action.

• Embedding accessibility as a key consideration across the end-to-end design and delivery of digital services
• Addressing barriers including affordability, digital skills and access
• Building on initiatives such as the Device Bank, with continued support from NSW Telco Authority

As expectations for faster, simpler and more responsive government services grow, AI is opening new possibilities for how agencies support people at scale. This fireside chat will explore how artificial intelligence (AI) and automation can improve customer experiences and give frontline teams more time for complex needs. It will also consider the workforce capability, leadership and safeguards needed to turn innovation into trusted, lasting improvements in service delivery.

• Using AI and automation to simplify customer interactions and create more seamless experiences across channels.
• Improving accessibility and recognising diverse customer needs, including vulnerability and the need for additional support.
• Maintaining trust through privacy, responsible governance and human judgement in sensitive or complex decisions.
• Building workforce confidence and capability to embed change and improve both productivity and customer outcomes.

Secure digital services and dependable communications are essential to keeping NSW safe and connected. Bringing together cyber security and critical communications perspectives, this fireside chat explores how agencies can prepare for disruption, maintain essential services and coordinate effective recovery.

• Building cyber resilience and dependable communications into the design of essential services.
• Preparing for disruption through tested continuity plans, alternative delivery channels and coordinated response.
• Strengthening collaboration across government, emergency services and industry partners.
• Maintaining public confidence through reliable services and clear communication during incidents..

As AI becomes part of everyday public service delivery, agencies need to build the skills, confidence and judgement to use it safely. This fireside chat will explore early engagement, adoption and professional development in AI. It will also consider how cross-sector initiatives, including the Digital Compact and 20% Alternative Pathways Pledge, can help build a more diverse future digital and AI workforce.

• Building AI literacy and confidence across a diverse public service workforce
• Supporting safe AI adoption through early engagement and professional development
• Connecting current workforce capability with the skills needed for the future digital and AI workforce
• Creating pathways into digital and AI careers beyond traditional university routes
• Exploring the Digital Compact and 20% Alternative Pathways Pledge as practical models for cross-sector action

As government services become more connected, agencies have an opportunity to make them easier to navigate and more responsive to people’s different needs. This panel will explore how inclusive design, cross-government collaboration and emerging technologies can remove barriers across the service journey. It will also consider how agencies can deliver improvements at pace while keeping accessibility, lived experience and trust at the centre.

• Designing connected services around people’s needs, including people with disability and those navigating complex or vulnerable circumstances.
• Moving beyond accessibility compliance to create services that work in practice, informed by lived experience, consultation and inclusive design.
• Connecting teams and services across organisational boundaries to make it easier for people to find and access the support they need.
• Using AI to improve access and navigation while avoiding new barriers and ensuring digitally excluded communities aren’t left behind.

As NSW moves from digital transformation to AI-enabled, data-driven government, the next productivity challenge is not only improving front-end services. It is connecting the infrastructure, assets, systems and data that sit behind them. This panel explores how agencies can use digital foundations to improve service delivery, asset performance, resilience and decision-making across the public sector.

• Where productivity is being lost through disconnected systems, duplicated processes and fragmented data.
• How agencies can better connect service delivery, infrastructure planning, asset management and enterprise technology.
• What cyber and assurance need to look like when more operational and asset data becomes connected.
• How customer-facing agencies can turn better back-end integration into simpler, faster and more reliable services.

Moving responsible AI from policy into practice requires clear accountability, secure systems and safeguards that work in everyday service delivery. This panel brings together human rights, privacy, technology and customer service perspectives to explore how government can deploy AI while protecting information and maintaining public trust.

• Translating responsible AI principles into practical deployment decisions, assurance and clear accountability.
• Embedding privacy, transparency and meaningful human oversight from the outset.
• Managing security risks and supplier responsibilities as AI becomes part of government platforms and services.
• Maintaining public trust through testing, ongoing monitoring and clear processes when things go wrong..

As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes government work, the future public service will depend on more than technical capability. This panel explores how agencies can redesign roles, skills and operating models, while addressing the ethical implications of AI to unlock productivity, maintain trust and deliver public value.

• How AI is changing public service roles and the way people work. 
• The technical, human and leadership skills public servants will need. 
• How agencies can redesign teams and operating models around people, data and technology. 
• How responsible and ethical AI adoption can improve productivity while protecting human judgement and accountability.