Service Tasmania is a virtual agency with the aim of providing a single point of access to all governmant services. It was an initiative of the Rundle liberal government pursued by the Bacon labour government. The project team took a formal decision not to create a new agency but rather to have three lead agencies host the service channels and have all services provided on a collaborative basis across state and local government. It was based on the model established by Service New Brunswick (a Canadian province of similar size and population) but made more effective by a cabinet mandate requiring all services to be made available through it. All three channels were launched simultaneously on 2 January 1998.;;;;The Department of Primary Industries, Water and the Environment was made responsible for the shopfronts around the state, some of which were established in collaboration with recently amalgamated local councils utilising redundant town halls. By 2003 there were 26 shops established around the state.;;;;The Telecommunications Management Division of the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPaC) was responsible for the phone channel which has evolved into a call centre providing access to all government services through a single phone number. There is also a Setrvice Tasmania Unit within DPaC. Thuis is a residuum of the original project team with two roles. One is to identify additional services that can be made available through Service Tasmania and explore partnerships with local government and the Commonwealth. The other is to develop support materials (mainly electronic) to facilitate the work of the call centre and shopfronts.;;;;The unit also provides executive support to the Service Tasmania Board, a committee comprising representatives of the lead agencies and major client agencies which identifies, implements and manages the service.;;;;The internet channel quickly became the most popular way to pay bills, apply for licences and permits, and gather information. It operated as a doorway to the websites of partner agencies rather than a host site in its own right. It is hosted by the Departmment of Education and on-going development of its search capacity led to its relaunch as Service Tasmania Online on 11 May 2000.;;;;The Service Tasmania shops, the Shop Operations Group and the Integrated Tasmanian Government Contact Centre were amalgamated with the Department of Premier and Cabinet under the State Service (Restructuring) Order (No.2) 2015.