Government business site gathers cobwebs

An Government attempt to use the internet to consult businesses has flopped and is to be relaunched.

Former Small Business Minister Rick Barker launched the business consultation website last July.

Mr Barker said at the time the website "was another achievement" in the Government's commitment to enhance regulations and reduce red tape.

The site was meant to set up a database of businesses interested in being consulted on policy initiatives. Answers to parliamentary questions from National's economic development spokeswoman Katherine Rich show that the website appeared to have achieved little.

Since August last year, the average number of "unique visitors" to the site has usually been fewer than 10 a day.

In September 2005 there were fewer than 227 visitors to the site, peaking in March with 493 visits.

In the nine months and five days covered by the question the site had 2738 visits.

Internet experts say the visitor ratings were "woeful".

Many of the visits would have been from internet search engines trawling the web for information, as well as officials working on and looking at the site.

The site also appears to show that most Government departments were not interested in taking part.

Government agencies were meant to register their policy proposals on the site so businesses who were reg-istered as being interested could give feedback.

There appears to be only one policy registered for consultation - on biosecurity regulations - and that expired last year.

Economic Development Minister Trevor Mallard said in his reply to Mrs Rich's question that the website was "soft launched" last year.

This year the Government planned a "hard launch" with a campaign to raise the site's profile in the middle of the year.

Mrs Rich said the term soft launch seemed to be a euphemism for a flop.

"It is Labour code for 'we launched the initiative but nobody noticed'," Mrs Rich said.

Business associations had predicted the website would be a failure as business people joined such groups so they could do the work for them.

Employers and Manufacturers Association chief executive Alasdair Thompson said last July: "Business people just don't want to get tied down doing this sort of thing. That's why they have us."

The Minister for Small Business, Lianne Dalziel, rejected Mrs Rich's comments.

"Money has not been wasted on this, the concept is simply at its early stages," she said. "The purpose of the launch was to get people used to the idea."

- NZPA