CeBIT 08: Finance Minister heralds australia.gov.au revamp

Finance Minster Lindsay Tanner today revealed that the Rudd Government’s ICT plans will provide Australians with a “one stop shop” for online government services.

The Government will redesign australia.gov.au to serve as the single site for Australians to seek out government services, with an anticipated relaunch for the first quarter of 2009.

Speaking at an eGovernment forum at CeBit in Sydney, the Minster said that with 24 percent of Australians contacting the Government over the Internet in 2007, now is the time to provide citizens with an easier way to have their voices heard.

“We need to bridge the gap between the way our citizens want to interact with the Government, and how they actually do,” he said.

“The 2020 Summit called for a single online access point to more effectively deliver Government services to Australia. Over the next 12 months, australia.gov.au will begin to evolve into this very product.”

Users will be able to link their existing online Government accounts to an australia.gov.au account and work between the sites without having to constantly re-enter their identity details.

Tanner stressed the new site will be completely “opt in,” so that users have total control over the amount of personal information they submit on the site.

Tanner also said the Government, in the coming months, will establish an experimental blog that will allow people to expand their communication with their leaders.

“This blog will give the online citizenry the chance to interact with the bureaucracy and make contributions to an area of Government review,” he said.

“We can change the way people relate to governments, and the way governments relate to people.”

“The dividends in responsiveness and accountability could be enormous.”