Governments across the world are going online to provide information and services such as making payments, renewing a driver's licence, or reporting a crime to the police - a service recently introduced in Britain. Regarding the availability of government information and services online, Australia is considered one of the world leaders.

A recent report by Accenture, Rhetoric vs Reality - Closing the Gap http://www.accenture.com, examined the level of e-government activity of twenty national governments. Nine service sectors were researched, including Human Services, Justice & Public Safety, Revenue, Defence, Education, Administration, Transport, Regulation & Democracy and Postal. The study took into account the number of services for which national governments were responsible, that were available online, and the level of completeness with which each service was offered. Canada, Singapore, the U.S., Norway and Australia emerged as the top five countries. However, the report found that none of the countries demonstrated the level of sophistication and interactivity that is becoming the norm among private sector companies. While government portals have become more common, often they do little more than direct the user to a government agency website, rather than offering easy and seamless interaction with several government agencies. 

To what extent do people want government information and services online? A study conducted across Europe found that people want information rather than transaction services from government websites. See News 19 June 2001 at http://www.kablenet.com. Europeans want guides and indexes to government services, more accessible and transparent information about policies and procedures, and access to information by problem areas rather than organisational unit. The most popular e-government service was change of address, followed by healthcare reservations. The lowest priority was given to income tax payment. 

However, Canadians would rather deal with virtual public servants than face-to-face, even when they are voting. A survey found that only 12% of Canadians would prefer to deal with a person if they needed a service or information from government. See News 29 May 2001 at http://www.kablenet.com. 

As this issue of PC Update goes to print, the government of Singapore is launching a public text message service, said to be the first mass communications experiment of its kind, using the text message feature of GSM mobile phones. Within half an hour of broadcasting an invitation to join, the Singapore Government received the 100 applications required to start the trial. See News 15 June 2001 at http://www.kablenet.com. 

The Japanese prime minister's e-mail magazine is very popular. The Koizumi Cabinet e-mail magazine appeared for the first time on 14 June 2001. By the end of the following day, 1.35 million of Japan's 28 million Internet users had signed up. See News 15 June 2001 at http://www.kablenet.com

Governments in other countries are also going online. Some examples include:

• The Philippines Customs Bureau has developed an online system to process clearance of imports, payment of duty, and delivery of release orders for shipments to leave the docks. The new online system has lessened the cost of trade for businesses, reduced opportunities for fraud, and helped the Bureau to maximise revenue collection. http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/egov/philippinecustomscs.htm.
  
• Through the use of computers and other electronic devices at 10 remote interstate border check posts in Gujarat, India, a team of public officials have reduced corruption and significantly increased the state's tax revenue. http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/egov/gujaratcs.htm.
  
• In Estonia, about 15 government officials use a paperless system to conduct most of the country's business. Cabinet ministers read proposed laws, make comments and suggestions and vote entirely online. Parliament sessions also go online via audio webcasts. Full-text transcripts are posted soon after. With the exception of classified information Estonians can access this information via the net. The government is also setting up free public Internet access points around the country. http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,20451,00.html.
  
• Chile has moved from a cumbersome and costly manual system for filing tax returns to a new system that allows taxpayers to file returns online and receive an assessment in 12 hours instead of several days. The site has won several awards including the "Technology Innovation Award" from the Chilean IT Association. Readers of the national newspaper El Diaro also awarded the Internal Taxation Service first prize for the best public institution website in the country. http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/egov/chile_taxcs.htm.
  
• The government in Argentina created the Cristal website http://www.cristal.gov.ar to disseminate online, and in an easily understood format, all information concerning the use of public funds in Argentina. This includes information not only about the amounts of money devoted to different programs, but also how these funds are administered.

Information and communication technologies present opportunities to governments that go beyond cutting the cost of services, the time it takes to deliver services (e.g., speedier tax returns), or collecting additional revenue. E-government has the potential to connect:

• with non-government organisations and citizens, for example to consult and improve public accountability;
• citizens and communities to foster learning, and social and economic development; and
• with businesses to improve communication and service delivery.