Hesitant start for e-government

By CHRIS BARTON

The Government is spending $28 million over four years to promote electronic commerce and online administration.

Singapore, in comparison, has allocated $S1.5 billion ($1.8 billion) over three years.

The Government defended its rather paltry Budget purse by saying the total amount being spent across all Government departments had not yet been worked out.

The e-government allocation will also do little to dispel the findings of a report by Deloitte Consulting released on Wednesday which indicates New Zealand is about two years behind countries such as Australia and Canada in developing an e-focus.

The Minister of State Services, Trevor Mallard, announced operational funding of around $16 million over four years and capital of $1 million set aside to make all Government information and services available via the internet.

"Our first step is to establish an e-government unit in the State Services Commission whose primary task will be to develop the overarching e-government strategy and facilitate its uptake by other Government agencies."

Mr Mallard admitted the announcement would have been more persuasive if the Government had been able to total all e-expenditure across departments, but said that exercise had yet to be done.

But he pointed to the new allocation of $18 million over four years for information and communication technology in education as an example of a sum that had not been included.

Similarly, Commerce Minister Paul Swain defended the small allowance of $11 million over four years to promote e-commerce, saying leadership, not large sums of money, was needed.

"The major issue is to provide leadership and vision to develop a strategy in conjunction with the private sector," he said. "Until now there has been no strategy and no funding to develop one. This is a peg in the ground."

The bulk of the $11 million - $9.5 million over two years - goes to Trade New Zealand to fund its e-commerce strategy. Specific budget allocations to promote e-commerce include:

$225,000 a year for two years to develop a national electronic commerce strategy.

$169,000 a year for four years "to harmonise" law on electronic commerce.

$100,000 a year for four years to address electronic commerce-related consumer protection issues. Part of this would go to the development of a model code for consumer protection in e-commerce for adoption by internet traders.

Mr Swain said the Government planned to introduce an Electronic Transaction Bill similar to Australia's this year, as well as amendments to the Crimes Act to deal with hackers and electronic crime.

He said the Government would present a draft of its e-commerce strategy to an e-commerce summit in early November.

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Minister's budget statement

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