Fed Gov launches e-gov strategy

The Federal Government has launched a new strategy for the delivery of e-government services for the next five years.

'Responsive Government, A New Service Agenda', was kicked off today by Special Minister of State, Gary Nairn, representing the next step in "improved online service delivery and responsive government".

Nairn said the update to the Government's previous e-government strategy would cut back on red tape and see isolated agencies and departments operating in a more collaborative and connected fashion.

"We will continue to place a strong emphasis on service delivery and efficiency, and in turn, value for money and public sector capability, to ensure all of these priorities are met," he said in a statement.

In the report, Nairn said improvements had been made since the last e-government strategy document issued in 2002, but that more needed to be done.

"Despite best efforts, the Australian Government's application of information and communications technology (ICT) to enable the better delivery of services and better government administration - "e-government" - has at times been ad hoc and uncoordinated," he said.

Nairn said given that the notion of e-government was barely more than a decade old, this was not surprising. However, the new strategy attempted to recognise the devolved nature of the Australian Government.

"E-government is about more than just applying ICT to government processes - it is about applying ICT to reform and improve government processes," he said. "Merely applying ICT to something does not make it better. But applying ICT, and reforming the accompanying business processes, does."

The report can be found at:

http://www.agimo.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/50078/Responsive_Government.pdf

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