Picture this: A caseworker, once buried under hours of compliance paperwork, now uses an AI assistant to help summarise years of records in seconds. This time saved is reinvested into what matters the most—supporting the people they serve.
This isn’t a distant vision. It’s already happening.
Across Australia’s key sectors, including the public sector, AI is starting to deliver real productivity gains. A recent AI trial by the Australian Public Sector (APS) revealed that 64% of managers saw improvements in their teams’ efficiency and quality during the trial.
While AI is evolving quickly, trust, however, is progressing slowly. Additionally, the government is under pressure to do more with less—amid cost-of-living pressures, stretched budgets, and rising citizen expectations. AI has the power to reshape service delivery, but only if it’s implemented with transparency, ethics, and public confidence at its core. How do we keep building trust?
Productivity gains are real, but trust remains fragile
By 2030, adopting AI and automation could add between $170 and 600 billion to Australia’s GDP. Avanade research revealed that sectors like financial services and retail expect up to four times the return on every dollar spent on AI. However, public sector leaders expect a more modest return on AI investment — a twofold return in 12 months. This is not for lack of ambition. It’s about trust.
Public sector agencies operate in a uniquely complex environment—where broad stakeholder engagement and alignment to policy and legislation is essential to support intended outcomes. Trust, not speed, becomes the most important currency. And now that currency is scarce.
Unsurprisingly, our findings revealed that more than a third of public service organisations see building trust and navigating ethical challenges as the biggest hurdles to fully leveraging AI to deliver efficiency and better outcomes for citizens.
Closing the gap with AI literacy and transparency
Education is the antidote. In fact, AI literacy was recently ranked the most in-demand skill in Australia by LinkedIn—and rightly so. One of the biggest challenges facing AI in the public sector is a question of ethics and a perceived inability to eliminate biases. According to the APS AI trial outcomes summary, 75% of public servants feel confident using AI tools after receiving the right training and guidance.
Investing in AI literacy—at every level of the workforce—is essential to normalising the use of technology across the public service. Leaders must lead by example and incorporate AI into their everyday routines. The more familiar and accessible the AI tools, the less threatening and mysterious they become.
However, building trust isn’t just about training. It’s about transparency. Aussies demand AI that is safe, fair, respectful, and accountable. This leads us to one of the biggest challenges in the public sector’s journey to realising the benefits of AI: bias.
The reality of an unchecked bias
One in three government organisations are hesitant to use AI to its fullest potential because of the lack of trust that is represented in managing these ethical concerns, the same Avanade research found. Without proper oversight, AI systems can reinforce existing inequalities—especially when trained on datasets that reflect narrow cultural norms or historical discrimination.
With rising concerns over AI’s reliance on ‘western norms,’ it may cause cultural data and information to be misused—leading to discrimination. Without proactive mitigation strategies, AI could deepen distrust among the very communities that public institutions are meant to serve.
These risks are very real—but they’re not insurmountable. With the right governance, regular audits, and inclusive training datasets, we can reduce bias and build systems that are representative of the diversity of communities across the country.
Security and governance will make or break trust
AI adoption in the public sector can’t be separated from privacy or data protection. Agencies and departments handle some of the nation’s most sensitive data; any breaches can erode public confidence. We’ve seen the fallout in recent years when data is breached and how it damages trust.
Avanade research shows that 40% of individuals are concerned about compliance with data laws, resulting in a need for clear guidelines, frameworks, and policies within government agencies. Encouragingly, almost half (49%) of public service respondents have developed these AI guidelines within their workplace.
While this is promising, it is important to note improvements in trust can only come from government participation in the development and implementation of AI tools, and true trust will come when these safeguards are co-designed alongside citizens, not just technologists and policymakers.
When governments put in place transparent, citizen-first policies, they don’t just regulate AI—they provide legitimacy to it. For AI to have a transformative impact on Australia’s public sector, smart technology is just the starting point. Without public trust baked into every layer of the approach, it will not allow organisations to achieve the desired outcomes and, most importantly, better services for Australians.
Based in Canberra, Scott joined Avanade in 2022 as its Regional Health and Public Sector Lead for Australia, bringing with him over 20 years of experience, an intimate understanding of government processes, and strong relationships across industry and government.
In his current role, Scott leads a practice committed to driving high-impact outcomes for Avanade’s healthcare and public sector clients in Australia through the power of people and Microsoft technologies.
Prior to joining Avanade, Scott served as Senior Digital Data and Transformation Adviser to Hon. Minister Stuart Robert, working with senior industry and government decision-makers to identify and implement new digital technologies that help realize the vision of providing better, simpler, and more effective digital services for Australians. Before that, Scott held leadership roles at the Digital Transformation Agency and KPMG Australia and worked at the Department of Finance and Deregulation.
Scott is passionate about making a genuine human impact and volunteering and is also Avanade’s Corporate Citizenship Executive Sponsor in Australia.
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