Bundling It Up - Links to Other Initiatives

The e-government strategy does not stand alone. The Government knows that a broad-based approach is needed to bring about a transition in New Zealand to an information society equipped with a knowledge-based economy. It has developed programmes for e-government, e-commerce, and what can best be described as e-citizens, together with a wide range of partnerships to achieve goals in these areas.

E-commerce

The e-commerce initiative is moving into its second year. Good progress in building the e-commerce capability of New Zealanders has been made. This is documented in the latest report on the strategy (E-commerce: Building the Strategy for New Zealand: Progress Report One Year On - available at http://www.e-commerce.govt.nz/ ).

Bandwidth

A major challenge recognised by government, business and the public during 2001 is the need for constant development of broadband communications capabilities right across the country. The Government has set a goal of ensuring that all New Zealand communities have access to two-way high-speed Internet services by 2003. It is using a variety of approaches to achieve this, including funding regional pilot schemes to pool demand for broadband so that commercial investors can confidently invest in improving this vital infrastructure.

During 2001 a very wide range of government and non-government organisations worked with the E-government Unit to develop the Government Web Use Guidelines. These guidelines set out not only to ensure that government websites are accessible to people with disabilities, but also that they do not demand high bandwidth so they can be used by people living in areas with marginal communications infrastructure. The guidelines represent best practice in this area, and should be used by all public sector organisations. During 2002 it is probable that the Government will make their use mandatory in the Public Service.

Digital divide

During 2001 it has also been widely realised that New Zealand, like all other countries, faces the challenge of the digital divide. Over the last year the Government has established the following vision of how New Zealand should meet this challenge:

All New Zealanders, either as individuals or as members of communities, have the opportunity to access and effectively use current and emerging information and communications technologies.

It has been developing an approach called Digital Opportunity, the overall goal of which is to enable individuals and communities to participate fully in the economic, social, educational, cultural and democratic opportunities available in a knowledge society.

Under the leadership of the Department of Labour, three main goals have been reached so far:

• A stocktake of programmes and policies aimed at closing the digital divide.

• A programme of wide-ranging consultation with many stakeholders uncovering the key issues associated with closing the digital divide.

• Development of an initial Digital Opportunities plan for Ministers to consider.

Recognition by Ministers of the wide range of issues and opportunities arising from the digital divide, together with their concern that New Zealanders would be looking for a very action-orientated strategy, has led to focusing this work around improving community access to, and competence in, using information and communications technologies (ICT).

A whole-of-government approach is being taken to this work, with an interdepartmental project team being led by the Community Employment Group of the Department of Labour. The objectives of the project are to:

• stimulate development of community infrastructure/access to ICT;

• facilitate understanding of the benefits of ICT for individuals and communities and skills development through access to training, education and awareness building;

• provide co-ordination of information; and

• establish a platform for private sector engagement in community ICT development.

The work will be linked to the pilot programmes to aggregate regional demand for bandwidth and the Ministry of Education's e-learning initiatives. Through this work, and other initiatives, the Department of Labour is proceeding toward having a final Digital Opportunity plan in place by early 2002.

Non-government organisations and the voluntary sector

Finally, mention must be made of the work of non-government organisations that are part of creating and delivering e-government, and assisting New Zealanders across the digital divide. In a wired world these organisations will play an important role in New Zealand society, just as they have in the past and do today.

The E-government Unit has been working with these organisations in a variety of ways in the past year. What is clear is how central these organisations can be in the relationship between people and government. As government agencies move toward e-government it is essential that they not assume that voluntary organisations will form part of the delivery process for government - but instead take them into account as they develop their e-government capabilities.