Minister's Foreword
In May 2000, the State Services Commission published the E-government Vision, the New Zealand Government’s first strategic vision for Information and Communications Technology in the public sector.
The Vision established the founding strategic principles for the e-government programme, it provided a platform for critically needed leadership and, perhaps most importantly, the Vision enabled the Government and all of the Public Service departments to coordinate their efforts to advance public services online.
The first E-government Strategy followed shortly after, in April 2001. Now, in November 2006, we have the fourth and latest version of the Strategy, Enabling Transformation.
As you would expect, much has changed over the intervening six years. The key to the success of any strategy is the ability to adapt and respond to these changes in the environment. The tremendous changes in both Information and Communication Technology and in public sector management in New Zealand are reflected in this version of the E-government Strategy.
Enabling Transformation builds on the previous strategies in the way they addressed the need for convenient and responsive government information and services, and it establishes a greater emphasis on enabling participation, reflecting recent changes in technology, particularly the growth in social networking on the World Wide Web. It is about making government work for you.
As New Zealanders have embraced evolving technologies, their expectations of the way that they interact with government have been changing as well. For example, as individuals and businesses have become accustomed to doing their banking online, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, so too they expect to deal with government in a way that is convenient for them.
Similarly, the Digital Strategy and the Development Goals for the State Services mean that the E-government Strategy now sits in a much more clearly defined relationship with other government initiatives across both the private and public sectors.
To quote one of the key messages from the Strategy, e-government puts people first. It is not just about technology: it gives people more choices, makes them more productive and allows them to interact with government in a way that is convenient for them and respects their privacy.
E-government is critical to the public management system of New Zealand. In enabling the transformation of government for New Zealanders, it is vital to the social and economic well-being of our country.
The overall development goal for the State Services is "a system of world class professional State Services serving the government of the day and meeting the needs of New Zealanders."
The 2006 E-government Strategy, Enabling Transformation, ably supports this goal and I encourage all New Zealand's State Services agencies to use the Strategy as their road map for e-government initiatives.
Hon Annette King
Minister of State Services
