Google eyes Australian government dollars with new hire

Google is eyeing off a bigger slice of the Australian Government's advertising pie with plans to hire government industry manager to attract more federal and state spending.

The Sydney-based position was advertised on Google's internal jobs site earlier this week, and promoted via social networking sites.

Google head of corporate communications Lucinda Barlow said that while Google Australia already had a "small" team of staff specialising in government work, the new position would help it attract more government dollars and encourage more federal and state online initiatives. Barlow would not confirm the overall size of the Google government team.

"Government is doing much more online now, and we'd like them to do more still," Barlow said. "Online is the most common way for people to engage with government."

Barlow said the timing of the advertisement during fervent speculation over the impending election was coincidental.

"It happens to be election time, but the role is going to be much broader than that," she said.

The Federal government alone spent $135 million on advertising in the 2008-2009 financial year, according to Nielsen.

Government spending on Google for advertising came under fire from the opposition in Parliament in May after communications minister Stephen Conroy criticised Google for breaching privacy with its Street View cameras.