When we can travel overseas again, you might find you have a quicker trip through the airport than you previously remembered.
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And if one of your international online shopping purchases arrives sooner than expected, you can probably thank the team at the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.
The department was one of five winners at the annual Public Sector Innovation Awards on Friday, presented by the Institute of Public Administration Australia.
It won for the world-first use of 3D x-ray technology and specially designed algorithms which can detect fruit, meat and seafood at Australia's border.
Currently in place at Melbourne Airport and Australia Post's Melbourne international freight processing facility, and soon to be rolled out in Sydney, it can get people and compliant goods through the border process much more efficiently.
Since being implemented the technology has detected two to three times more risky items than prior technology and will eventually be able to detect plant products and vegetables.
But, according to director of Pathway Capability within the department Jessica Mitchell, the program also has huge potential to help disrupt the illegal wild animal trade.
"It's about protecting our agriculture sector, our biosecurity and our way of life," Ms Mitchell said.
The other award winners were the Department of Education, Skills and Employment for its regional university centres program, the Department of Parliamentary Services for creating a television program to increase cyber security awareness, the tax office for its single touch payroll scheme and Services Australia won for the streamlined JobSeeker claim process in response to COVID-19.
The five winners were selected from 12 finalists by a panel of judges who assessed 44 nominations from across the public service.
Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources secretary David Fredericks opened the awards and said the awards showcased the public service's ability to be creative and put its energy into doing things differently.
"It's uplifting at a time when frankly, we need it," Mr Fredericks said.
"If we don't experiment, if we don't move forwards, we risk being left behind and being seen as stale and out of touch."
Services Australia national manager Ailsa Borwick accepted the award for the agency and became emotional as she credited the work of her colleagues in streamlining the JobSeeker application process.
"A lot of people worked tirelessly to get this result and I'm just really proud of them," she said.
The agency was able to turn what could be a 170 question application form into a process that some people could complete in under 20 questions. After the government's March 23 JobSeeker announcement, the team had the new interface up and running by April 14 for more than 250,000 people to apply online.
"We wanted to find a way people could have a really simple experience and also help to keep the community safe," Ms Borwick said.
The awards were held in Questacon's new Mars room, beneath a vast reddish orb on which the planet's surface was reflected. The trophies were designed and made by Questacon with the brief that the statue would take pride of place in any departmental trophy cabinet.
Mr Fredericks, a self confessed space geek, said he regularly reminds people that NASA is a public sector agency. That the achievement of getting humanity onto the surface of the Moon was thanks to public servants.
The award winners, he said, showcased the best attributes of the public service.
"There are days when you're really proud to be a public servant and today is one of them," he said.