myGov Contact Page: Digital Assistant Prioritized for 24/7 Support

Image Credit: Jacky Lee

myGov’s official “Contact myGov or your services” page now directs people to try the myGov Digital Assistant as a first step before calling the helpdesk, positioning it as a self serve option that “can answer your questions any time” and can be opened via the Assistant icon across myGov pages.

What myGov Is Saying

On the contact page, myGov describes the Digital Assistant as an always available help channel that can take questions about myGov and your account, including linked services, and it explains where to find it (the Assistant icon).

This sits alongside traditional support options such as online help content and phone support, including listed operating hours and holiday closures for the myGov helpdesk.

How a Chatbot Can Work without Generative AI

What many people call a “chatbot” does not have to be generative.

A non-generative assistant typically:

• Recognises intent (what you are trying to do) from keywords or short phrases

• Retrieves a matching, pre written answer or a curated set of links and steps

• Guides you through fixed paths for common tasks (sign in issues, linking services, password rules, and similar)

A clue to this design approach appears in government supported training material for the myGov Digital Assistant, which says the assistant works best when you type a single word rather than a whole sentence, and that it may return a list of responses you scroll through. That interaction style is consistent with a retrieval or rules based assistant rather than a free form “write me a new answer” model.

The same training material also says the Digital Assistant does not access your personal account details, and can be used even when you are not signed in. That is an important architectural boundary for a public sector helper, because it reduces the amount of personal data the tool needs to touch when answering common questions.

Where This Fits in Australia’s Broader Government Chatbot Pattern

Services Australia’s digital assistant design is documented through the Australian Government Architecture site, which describes digital assistants across myGov, Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support, delivered through a chat window launched from an Assistant button.

Separately, Services Australia’s Automation and AI Strategy 2025 to 27 describes tools such as the myGov Digital Assistant as responding to millions of customer enquiries each year, positioning these assistants as a scaled front door for common questions while broader automation and AI programs mature.

myGov’s Approach Versus “GenAI Assistants”

The current myGov presentation is notably practical: it frames the Digital Assistant as a fast way to get answers to common queries, and it is published in the same support context as help articles and phone numbers.

This contrasts with many newer consumer and enterprise “personal assistants” that use generative AI to produce open ended responses. In government settings, the trade off often comes down to predictability and risk management: retrieval based assistants can be constrained to approved content, which can reduce incorrect or overly creative outputs when users are looking for official instructions.

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Source: myGov, DTA, Services Australia, Be Connected, DTA Media Releases, GovAI Chat, Workforce Australia

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