News - Agency online round-up

Agency online round-up

May 2002

The last few months have seen a number of government organisations using the Internet to add value to their activities. This is just a sample of what has been achieved.

Statistics New Zealand has been progressively posting the results of the 2001 Census online as the processing and analysis has been completed. The latest Census included a question about Internet use for the first time. The results show that almost four in ten New Zealand households have access to the Internet.

The Maritime Safety Authority (MSA) covered the grounding near Gisbourne of the Jody F Millennium freighter in February 2002. The MSA used their website to satisfy intense public and media interest in the event as it unfolded. They provided journalists and the public with regular updates, media releases, photographs from the scene, and frequently asked questions.

The Department of Labour is now providing an online calculator to assess your entitlement to paid parental leave. It translates current legislation into a simple question and answer session based on the different scenarios facing parents applying for leave and employers asked to grant it.

More than 750,000 people studying now have access to their qualification results online. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) recently loaded about 7 million results records onto the new system. The service will give students instant access to their record of learning when applying for jobs or enrolling for further education.