Thursday 15 December 2011

The Hon Terry Mulder MP
Minister for Public Transport
Minister for Roads

VicRoads’ antiquated registration and licensing IT system will be replaced to reduce the risk
of fraud, improve customer service and tighten up demerit point capture, Minister for Roads
Terry Mulder said today.

Mr Mulder said the 23 year old IT system was the subject of significant criticism by the
Ombudsman in 2005 and again in 2007, who also found the former Labor Government had
under-funded a replacement system.

“Despite the Ombudsman’s warnings about the security failures and risk of the whole system
failing, the previous Labor Government turned a blind eye,” Mr Mulder said.

“By leaving it in the too-hard basket, the previous Labor Government left VicRoads with an
outdated system, long queues of frustrated customers and powerless to prevent fake licences.

“VicRoads currently processes more than 22 million transactions annually with demand
growing by 5.7 per cent every year,” Mr Mulder said.

“The current system was built well before the internet and has become fragile, inflexible and
prone to failure over time. We need a system that provides swift and secure customer
service, minimising time spent in transactions with VicRoads.

“From 1 April next year, registration fees will increase from $191.60 to $226.60, which will still
keep Victoria’s registration fees the third lowest in Australia.”

Mr Mulder said the new system would increase the amount of transactions possible online
and by SMS and reduce the need to wait in line at VicRoads offices. Once the new system is
up and running other features include quarterly and six monthly payment options and giving
customers the ability to securely manage and update their own records. For the first time
VicRoads will be able to easily extract and analyse information to develop new road safety
initiatives that will save lives.

“With identity theft costing the Australian economy around $4 billion each year, the new
system’s facial recognition technology will prevent duplicate fake licences,” Mr Mulder said.

“While funding for this project will come from an increase in registration fees, the new system
will save money allowing more to be spent on improving our roads.”

The new system is scheduled to be introduced in 2014.


Visit www.premier.vic.gov.au for more news.