Foreword

It has been very interesting to take stock of where we stand two years since the E-government Strategy was first released.

I am continually surprised at New Zealanders' willingness to embrace new technology. For example, over 50 percent of our homes now contain a personal computer. This is more than have dishwashers.

The Internet has become part of our daily lives. We now use it to access our bank accounts, reserve library books, or to keep in contact with friends and family. International research shows that New Zealanders are some of the highest users of the Internet in the world – 71 percent of New Zealanders having accessed the Internet in just one month in 2002.

The Government has been moving fast to keep pace with these changes. We have had some good news during the past year about our performance in this area. The 2002 United Nations report Benchmarking E-government: A Global Perspective ranked New Zealand third among 169 nations on a global e-government leadership index.

We want to ensure that New Zealanders benefit from the ways that the Internet can be used to improve government. We see e-government enabling a transformation in the way government operates and delivers results for New Zealanders.

The E-government Strategy shapes the way government agencies will contribute to this transformation through the way they design and deliver services using information and technology. The beginnings of transformation are becoming apparent. For example:

• The Health sector's development of the e-Health concept, that will mean doctors and nurses get better information when and where they need it, so that they can treat patients better.

• The Inland Revenue Department's new e-Enablement Strategy that shows how Inland Revenue will use e-government to interact with taxpayers in ways that are more convenient for them.

• The collaborative development by five agencies of WorkSite, the new labour market portal, giving people and business convenient and integrated access to information about employment in New Zealand.

• In education, our ICT in Schools strategy addresses the fact that information and communications technologies are vital to giving our kids the educational opportunities they need in a knowledge society. In tertiary education, our e-Learning strategy will change the way education is delivered.

The launch of the new all-of-government portal (www.govt.nz) is the most tangible demonstration of what is being achieved by e-government so far. People and business now have unprecedented ability to access government information and services via the Internet. More than 2500 government services can be accessed through the portal, and this continues to grow.

The portal and other e-government milestones listed in this updated strategy demonstrate three essential aspects of e-government in New Zealand.

First, e-government is built on solid foundations. The portal would not exist without the development of the metadata standard that agencies use to create the information in the portal. Also, it would be difficult for many people to access the portal if it were not built according to the Web Guidelines.

Another aspect of foundation building is the Government's commitment to ensuring that New Zealanders have access to a broadband communications infrastructure, which it is working toward through the PROBE initiative.

Second, the portal shows the benefits of collaboration. So far, nearly 90 central government agencies, and 86 local authorities, have contributed to the content of the portal. The number of agencies contributing to the portal continues to grow.

Collaboration is critical to e-government, especially as agencies now move on to begin integrating services, and share the back office technologies and infrastructures that support their delivery.

Third, e-government is people-centric. The design of the portal reflects what people want, not what the Government wants to provide. People were extensively involved in the design of the portal, which is now delivering the results they were looking for.

The Government wants the State sector to deliver better results for New Zealanders. I encourage all agencies to look to this strategy for a sense of direction, purpose, and support in using e-government to do this.

Hon Trevor Mallard
Minister of State Services
June 2003