Definition
Payments describes the process of transferring funds from one party to another, encompassing both outgoing and incoming transactions. This includes the disbursement of funds to individuals, businesses or other entities, as well as the receipt of funds into government accounts.
This capability does not provide guidance on determining eligibility to government entitlements. For this guidance, please refer to Entitlements.
This capability does not include payments between Commonwealth entities and other levels of government, nor between Commonwealth entities.
Purpose
Australian Government outbound payments, including pensions, allowances, taxation refunds, and superannuation, exist to financially support eligible recipients, based on defined circumstances. Payments may also contribute to the income stream of an individual, business, or other entity.
The payment capability also encompasses inbound payments (such as tax collections), ensuring the effective and secure management of government revenue.
The payment capability is realised through:
- efficiently and securely processing outgoing payments
- ensuring payment systems meet the diverse needs of both the government, and individuals, businesses, and authorised representatives
- supporting efficient management of incoming payments to maintain government revenue streams.
Objectives
The objectives of this content are to:
- create unified, efficient and secure systems that streamline payments across government
- ensure familiarity with best practices in payments, allowing informed decision making on investments in payment solutions
- maximise reuse of existing solutions and minimise risks by drawing on past investments, implementations and lessons learned
- meet compliance with legislation and regulation, government policies and standards, and any national or international agreements relating to payments.
Whole-of-government applicability
The Data and digital government strategy sets a vision for 2030 to deliver simple, secure and connected public services for all people and business, through world class data and digital capabilities.
Suitable handing of payments as a capability supports the Strategy's missions of:
- Simple and seamless services: Be digital by design, engage people proactively, and guide them to the services they might need.
- Trusted and secure: Build and maintain trust, engaging transparently and meaningfully on government data collection and use.
The Strategic plan for Australia’s payment system outlines the Government’s vision for the sector and highlights key priorities and initiatives. This plan imposes additional obligations on the APS concerning payments.