IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

“Single logons will make life easier for individuals and businesses. The costs of creating and maintaining a separate logon each time a new service is required will disappear. In addition, protection against emerging Internet security threats will be beefed up," said Trevor Mallard, State Services Minister.

Minister of Internal Affairs Dr Richard Worth announced the move at the GOVIS conference in Wellington today as the country's recently-elected National-led government prepares its first budget, due for release next week.

The study, headed by Associate Professor Robin Gauld from the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, set out to see if e-government was making government services more responsive.

“Our key and consistent finding was that the Australian agencies performed significantly worse than their New Zealand counterparts, bringing into question their higher ranking in international e-government studies and also their potential to deliver on the Australian government policy that e-government means more responsive government.”

Waseda University study lists areas to focus on to make it to the top 10.

New Zealand is number 13 – a spot lower than 2014 – in the latest global e-government survey by Waseda University and the International Academy of CIOs (IAC).

Singapore is first place, followed by the United States (number one last year), Denmark, the United Kingdom and Korea. Japan is sixth, followed by Australia, Estonia, Canada and Norway.

Manukau City Council's new US$2.27 million flagship library opened last month, and is the first public library in the country to use a RFID system. The RFID deployment enables librarians to use an RFID antenna to scan shelves for books that are missing or in the wrong place.

> “Customer service is vitally important to us,” says Wayne Goodley, Director of City Services with Manukau City Council. “Three years ago we agreed to a new strategy of citizen, customer and community relationship management – or ‘C3RM’.”

In turn, the DHBs will be represented on the public sector committee negotiating the details of G2006, the next iteration of the government's bulk-licensing agreement with the vendor.

New Zealand is revamping its recently launched e-government web site, nz.govt, after users suggested that it did not look visually appealing or like an official government portal.

The website was launched last July, and the redesign has been led by Massey University’s Open Lab. The team have blogged about the redesign, writing that the current site received feedback that “it didn’t look like a government site, so people were not convinced that it was legitimate; it was visually unappealing; it lacked a distinctly ‘New Zealand’ feel”.

As misgivings about online voting systems grow in the US, New Zealand’s chief electoral office intends pressing ahead with an e-voting pilot in one electorate for the 2008 general election.

Such a limited initiative will allow any mishaps or disputes over electronic votes to be contained, says the chief electoral office’s manager of electoral events, Robert Peden.

In total 1644 citizens who have visited a public service website in the past 12 months had been polled.

Comparisons are drawn against the Kiwis Count 2009 (experiences and views of public service survey) which stated that public service through the internet, if made easy and user-friendly, would be more encouraging to access. This matches the “straightforward process” and “easy site navigation” drivers for online public service.

Prepared by the New Zealand State Services Commission, the report draws from the experience of 2226 New Zealanders who completed the 2012 Kiwis Count survey on public satisfaction with government services.

The scheme is expected to be expanded to include information with other countries including the UK, the US and Canada under what is known as the Five Country Conference (FCC).

Officials say that the system is very secure with the likelihood of security breaches low. The information includes photographs, fingerprints and iris scans which are collected routinely as part of the application for visas. Fingerprints of citizens will not be shared, just those of foreign nationals.

Gore Hospital’s chief executive Karl Metzler told FutureGov that one in five New Zealander lives in a rural or remote area. “We’re exploring robotics technology to manage healthcare, and reduce pressures on our medical system.”

It wants whoever is given ministerial responsibility for communications after the November 8 general election to convene a meeting of all stakeholders to review its recommendations, www.tuanz.org.nz/blog/e379f711-b2b6-4423-9e32-4a8bf9f301db/228f9ce0-e78c-4610-a954-0f858ce9434a.html determine a way forward, and allocate responsibilities."

Throughout the world, the growing use of Telehealth is playing its part in supporting integrated health care, empowering patients and bringing health care “closer to home”. It facilitates beneficial changes to the patterns of workforce deployment and enables the delivery of new modes of healthcare delivery such as this Government’s Whanau Ora and Better Sooner More Convenient policies. Telehealth has the potential to reduce demand for high cost services and improve the healthcare of New Zealanders with long-term conditions.

NZ$14 million (US$9.8 million) has been allocated to set-up the new inter-agency government network, which will be overseen by the State Services Commission (SSC). According SSC studies some government agencies have been found to be paying double the amount for connectivity as other agencies.

Minister Tremain, a keynote speaker at the FutureGov Forum New Zealand, held Tuesday 28th May in Wellington, said the final blueprint has involved detailed consultation with government and industry — with an imminent launch date.

But this strategy is not a “cookbook” with a defined recipe about technology choices. “This strategy will evolve as technology evolves, while ensuring that everyone understands and appreciates the ICT plan.”

The SSC conducted the study, not only to understand how New Zealanders experience public services, but also to gain insights on how services can be improved.

Two of the drivers of satisfaction with public services delivered online are the same as the overall drivers of satisfaction with public services, as reported in the Kiwis Count 2009 (experiences and views of public service survey): “the service experience met my expectation and it’s an example of good value for tax dollars spent”.