Open letter to the Premier of Western Australia
Dear Premier,
I am writing to express a mixture of exasperation and incredulity at the state of Western Australia’s Department of Transport (DoT) vehicle registration and licensing system. It’s a system that forces citizens to reenact scenes from the 1985 film Brazil, where an Orwellian bureaucracy ensnares citizens in endless red tape and absurd inefficiencies. The iconic line “Tuttle? No, no, it’s Buttle. B-U-T-T-L-E.” comes to mind, where a simple clerical error triggers a cascade of chaos. Similarly, Western Australia’s DoT system forces taxpayers into a cycle of taking a number, waiting interminably, and shuffling between service counters, only to be told they need yet another form. This relic of bureaucracy isn’t just inefficient; it’s an affront to the technological age we live in.
The recently trialled ServiceWA centre in Bunbury, while well-intentioned, epitomises a missed opportunity of almost Shakespearean proportions. Combining services from five state government departments into a single physical location has proven to be an expensive and ineffective stopgap. Instead of innovating towards a digital-first future, we’ve doubled down on outdated physical infrastructure. This effort, while aiming to reduce inconvenience, still forces Western Australians to travel, queue, and navigate in-person bureaucracy, reminiscent of a Dickensian workhouse where hope goes to die.
In Estonia, a nation with a population smaller than Perth, they’ve embraced the future. Through a collaboration with tech company DriveX, Estonians can now register vehicles and complete safety checks entirely online. No need to step foot in a service office or hunt for a stamp to post forms. Citizens can simply upload documents and photos via an intuitive platform, completing the process then and there—whether on their front lawn or at a farm clearing sale in the bush. Imagine that: a system without carbon duplicates, queues, or trips to government offices. It’s almost as if they’ve figured out the 21st century.
Meanwhile, back in Western Australia, we’re stuck with red forms, blue forms, and enough bureaucratic detritus to make archaeologists of the future scratch their heads in wonder. The loss of productivity from this outdated system isn’t just an inconvenience; it’s a drain on the economy. For regional residents, the burden is even greater. Traveling into town to the council licensing centre only to be told to wait while they check with DoT in Perth is frustrating, even more frustrating is to be told it can’t be done locally. In a world where farmers can buy and sell grain and livestock online, it makes no sense that we can’t do simple vehicle transfers on our phone.
Premier, Western Australia is no stranger to technological innovation. We’ve been global leaders in driverless trucks on mines and automated systems in agriculture. If we can build world-class electronic commercial fishing licensing systems and develop all-knowing firearms tracking systems, why are we clinging to a vehicle registration process that belongs in the last century? It’s as if we’ve perfected the science of paper shuffling and now don’t want to give it up.
The goal should be to leapfrog into the future, aim to eliminate the need for in-person visits entirely. Denmark’s Borger.dk platform offers over 2,000 integrated self-service options—from enrolling children in school to updating addresses for all utilities and licenses — all accessible from one digital portal. These initiatives earned Denmark top marks for e-participation in UN surveys, and 92 per cent of Danes report satisfaction with the system. It’s no wonder their citizens trust the government to handle their personal information; the system works for them, not against them.
Western Australia’s 2030 emissions reduction program is a prime opportunity to shift the focus to a fully digitised and modernised interface between the people and the state government. Eliminating paper forms, unnecessary travel, and physical offices aligns perfectly with your government’s environmental goals. And as AI continues to revolutionise service delivery, the possibilities for streamlined, citizen-centric government services are endless. Who knew saving trees and citizens’ sanity could go hand in hand?
Premier, a visit to any DoT licensing centre will reveal the simmering frustration of Western Australians forced to navigate this antiquated system. If ever there was a political winner of a policy, it’s taking WA out of the dark ages and into the digital future. Imagine a system where government correspondence is all electronic, services are accessible from anywhere, and citizens no longer dread the words “You’ll have to go into a licensing centre to do that.”
Western Australians deserve better. You have the power to sign up WA to join the race to be a world leader in e-licensing systems. It’s time to aspire not to incrementally improve a failing system but to throw it out and set 2030 as the day the DoT service centres have no ques, as there is no need to go.
Trevor Whittington
CEO, WAFarmers
