Victoria’s newly released Designed to Disrupt policy marks a critical shift in how Australian water utilities must think about service design, customer protection, and social responsibility.

Victoria’s newly released Designed to Disrupt policy marks a critical shift in how Australian water utilities must think about service design, customer protection, and social responsibility.

This is not just a government position paper. It is a strategic, well-researched call to embed Essential Safety by Design into the core systems that deliver water to our communities — and to do so urgently.

At Aptumo, we see this as a welcome and necessary evolution for our sector. It’s a chance to design systems that don’t just work efficiently, but safeguard those who need protection the most.

A Victorian Initiative With National Implications

The Designed to Disrupt policy, developed under the leadership of Catherine Fitzpatrick and supported by the Centre for Women’s Economic Safety, Thriving Communities Australia, and the Essential Services Commission Victoria, targets the water sector directly.

It highlights the risk of harm when account structures, digital systems, and customer service processes are not built with safety and autonomy in mind.

It’s based on the lived experiences of victim-survivors and frontline workers. And it issues a clear challenge to all water providers across Australia:

•  Prevent misuse of accounts and personal data in abuse scenarios.

•  Enable customers to safely manage or exit from shared service arrangements.

•  Hold systems and institutions accountable when they cause or compound harm.

The report doesn’t ask for patchwork fixes — it calls for sector-wide design change.

What It Means for Water Providers

The policy provides numerous real-world examples where outdated service design led to serious consequences — from breaches of private information to victim-survivors being forced to remain on joint accounts with perpetrators.

It highlights that inconsistent billing platforms, legacy identity management practices, and inflexible processes can unintentionally aid coercive control.

But it also points to encouraging shifts:

•  The introduction of internal safety champions.

•  The development of tailored hardship pathways.

•  The exploration of systems designed to balance privacy, trust, and access.

These are signs of progress. But the policy makes it clear — the next step is embedding these principles by design, not by exception.

Why Aptumo Is Aligned

Aptumo was built to support the kind of transformation Designed to Disrupt calls for.

Water providers using Aptumo already benefit from:

•  Configurable account structures that allow for safe, secure transitions without backend rebuilds.

•  Flexible workflows that support hardship, family violence indicators, and customer vulnerability flags.

•  Detailed audit trails to monitor account changes and access, enhancing accountability.

•  Permission-based staff controls, ensuring the right people can act quickly and appropriately in high-risk cases.

These aren’t features we bolted on — they’re embedded in our architecture. And that’s the essence of safety by design.

From Compliance to Leadership

The policy challenges the sector to move beyond compliance and toward proactive prevention. It positions water utilities not just as infrastructure managers, but as potential agents of protection, trust, and systemic dignity.

That’s a role many providers are ready to step into — and the technology must keep pace.

Whether you’re in Victoria responding directly to the ESC’s framework, or elsewhere in Australia preparing for similar expectations, the message is clear: now is the time to review, reimagine, and redesign.

Let’s Lead Together

At Aptumo, we’re proud to support water utilities that want to do more than meet the minimum — they want to lead the way.

The Designed to Disrupt policy gives our sector the blueprint. Now, it’s about turning intent into implementation.

If your organisation is ready to embed safety by design in your billing, identity, and customer platforms — let’s have that conversation.

Matt Bowd | General Manager, Asia Pacific