Australia gives Government on Web a GO

Although Australia is one of the leading players in bringing Government Online to its citizens, this service delivery channel has yet to realise its full potential, concluded a study in to government Web site usage.

Whilst global usage of government Web sites increased in the past year, two out of three citizens feel “unsafe” about transacting with, or disclosing information to the Government via the Internet, revealed the Government Online Study (GO) undertaken by Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS).

Australia experienced the biggest surge in uptake of Government online services. However, citizens have yet to appreciate the benefits Government Online (GO) can bring, TNS concluded.

In 2002, TNS interviewed over 29,000 individuals across 31 countries to determine the current levels of Government Online usage. The GO report, now in its second year, aims to provide benchmarks relating to citizen use of government services online and perceptions of safety when providing personal information to Government - at local, state/territory and Federal Government level. It is hoped the report well help knowledge managers and government strategists.

In Australia, a national study of 1,000 adults in August 2002 was undertaken to better understand consumers’ relationship with Government Online.

Information seeking continues to be the most significant use of government Web sites. This use has received the largest increase from 20 per cent in 2001 to 38 per cent for Australians in 2002. The global average was 24 per cent in 2002.

Downloading forms to be faxed or posted was the second most used service in Australia at 19 per cent, well above the average of 11 per cent.

Yet interactive usage, such as providing personal information or transacting using a credit card through the Internet, had only slight gains. 63 per cent of respondents said they feel “unsafe” dealing and transacting with the Government online. TNS conclude this may be due to a few factors, such as a lack of services, the public being slow to take advantage of service, or the service being inappropriate and not meeting community needs.

Wendy Mellor, social and government research director at Taylor Nelson Sofres Australia said: “The study has highlighted that it is possible for Governments to achieve higher levels of two way Government-to-citizen activity but for most countries, this is still quite a challenging goal.”