IT Diffusion

Australia: E-Government

Overview:

Over the past few years, Governments at all levels have moved to provide an extensive range of services online. This followed commitments made by the Federal Government to have all appropriate government services online by 2001. As can be seen from the chart beside, there has been quite a rapid and significant response to these government initiatives. The use of online government services has grown from about 20% of adult Internet users in 2000 to about 36% in 2002 (or a growth in numbers of 133% on 2000 figures) [20].

Government Usage:

Of the three million users of online government services in 2002, approximately 49% made government bill payments (eg rates, vehicle registration), 20% lodged tax returns and about 8% lodged applications for permits etc. In addition to these payments, approximately 20% sought information or services relating to taxation, 20% relating to employment/unemployment and about 6% relating to pensions or other benefits.

Of the 3 million who accessed government services online in 2002, approximately 71% resided in metropolitan areas (capital cities) and about 29% in regional areas.

Of the 5.8 million Internet users residing in capital cities, 2.2 million (36.8%) accessed government services online. By comparison, of the 2.5 million Internet users residing in regional areas, about 863,000 (33.6%) accessed government services online in 2002.

The general appeal of online government services can be assessed from the chart beside which compares the general Internet community profile against the profile of users of online government services. The chart demonstrates that [20]:

overall, the profile of the online government services user community differs only slightly from the general Internet community. This implies that online government services are diverse, have wide appeal to the Internet community and are readily accessible.
Internet users aged between 25 and 44 years have a slightly higher tendency to use online government services compared to other age groups.
Male Internet users have a slightly higher tendency to use online government services than female users.
Internet users on higher incomes have a slightly greater tendency to use online government services.
Internet users with degree qualifications or higher had a higher tendency to use online services.
For Internet users with a disability, a similar proportion used government services as were represented in the Internet community overall.

E-Government:

The Commonwealth government's Business Entry Point (BEP) has information for small business on matters such as government industry initiatives, taxation, recordkeeping and industrial relations.

It includes pointers to "800 programs and services offered by government", industry associations and Chambers of Commerce, and the Business License Information Service (BLIS) - information on licenses and permits required in the running of a business.

The Australian Government has taken, and continues to make great strides with regards to e-government. A variety of services are already available to the public which include:

e-Tax
http://www.ato.gov.au
The Australian Taxation Office has developed e-tax to make it easy for all Australians to complete their tax returns online for free. Over 550,000 taxpayers lodged their returns using e-tax in 2002. E-tax was one of the first applications in the world to be offered by a revenue service, and one of the first of its type to use Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology.

Business Entry Point
http://www.bep.gov.au/BEP2002
The BEP provides Australian businesses with a wide range of information about business start-up, taxation, licensing and legislation, as well as over 2900 business to government transactions such as taxation compliance and license applications. It also enables businesses to apply for their Australian Business Number, and update information about their business on the Australian Business Register

Australian JobSearch
http://www.jobsearch.gov.au
Australia’s largest employment website, is a comprehensive online job board free to use and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is used by employers and recruitment agencies to easily display employment vacancies and browse resumes, and by job seekers to look for vacancies nation wide.

eFiling
http://www.efiling.fedcourt.gov.au
Litigants and the legal profession can lodge applications and supporting documentation, and pay filing fees electronically to the Federal Court. ‘Stamped’ documents from the court can be electronically returned.

Online Weather Data
http://mirror.bom.gov.au/weather/radar
To help prepare for severe weather events and assist weather sensitive industries, the Bureau of Meteorology provides Weather radar for almost 50 locations around Australia,

Electronic Travel Authority
http://www.eta.immi.gov.au
The ETA provides Travel Authorities for Australia to visitors from 32 eligible countries or locations. The ETAs are acceptable at airline check-in counters for easy processing through airlines’ Departure Control Systems.

GrantsLINK
http://www.grantslink.gov.au
This is a comprehensive website offering direct links to Federal government grants programs.