Customer Charter puts people at the heart of smart places

The NSW Government has today reinforced its commitment to including communities in the rollout of smart technologies, launching the Smart Places Customer Charter.

Simon Hunter, Executive Director of Strategy and Innovation at the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment said the NSW Government was continuing its digital transformation while ensuring everyone has the necessary support to transition to new technologies in their city or town.

“The Customer Charter is all about making sure smart places are designed for people and created with people,” Mr Hunter said.

“New technologies can deliver us amazing data and analytics to drive environmental resilience, economic strength, service improvements and inclusion for our people. And in harnessing this future, we need to engage with our citizens and businesses, so we meet their needs.

“The Charter includes six principles to guide anyone involved in the creation and management of smart places. The principles ensure customers have a voice in the process and provide protection and security of data, transparency, accessibility and equity in smart places.

“We are confident the Smart Places Customer Charter captures customer expectations of smart places because community input has directly shaped it.

“Community members worked alongside all levels of government, industry and academia to co-design the Charter. In fact, almost 5,000 people viewed it during the public exhibition period.

“Local Councils, developers and other place owners are invited to join the State Government in signing up to the Charter, to demonstrate their commitment to working with communities in the development and delivery of smart and connected places.

“The Charter includes a commitment to adhere to the Data Protection Policy, which will be released in the coming months to support existing legislation and provide practical guidance for smart place practitioners to manage data in accordance with privacy legislation and promote transparency and trust.”

The launch of the Smart Places Customer Charter marks the completion of another action from the 2020 NSW Smart Places Strategy.

“We have made significant progress in the past 12 months. I’m proud that we launched the $45 million Smart Places Acceleration Program in December last year and the Smart Western City Program in August this year. There is still more to do, but with programs like this, NSW is ahead of the pack.”

Smart places use technology to capture data to provide insights that improve services for people and deliver economic, environmental, health, safety and social outcomes.

To sign up to the Smart Places Customer Charter and learn more about Smart Places in NSW.