Local councils in New Zealand are struggling with limited funding and central government policy support as they look to implement e-democracy and e-government services over the next decade, according to a special report for E-Government Bulletin.
Clear progress is being made nevertheless, as councils develop a range of innovative, low-cost e-government and e-democracy measures including developing use of social networking; email panels; e-petitions and online customer service.
Although New Zealand has a national digital strategy ( http://bit.ly/9FPSnb ) and e-government programme ( http://bit.ly/coQAsI ), financial measures to support e-government is limited, Kylie Gibbon, web strategy editor at Manukau City Council, told E-Government Bulletin. “There has been little funding to develop e-government, particularly within the local government sector, in comparison to the levels of funding available in the UK during the early to mid-2000s” said Gibbon.
As well as social media tools, another e-democracy activity popular with local authorities across the country – due to low cost and ease of implementation – is the use of email-panels. These involve sending out survey questionnaires to randomly-selected groups of residents in an area by email, providing an easy way of acquiring a wider cross-section of residents’ views. “The email-panel gives us a cost-effective way of finding out what a wide range of people in Palmerston North are thinking”, said Andrew Boyle, head of community planning at the New Zealand council.
A 2009 survey carried out by ALGIM (the Association of Local Government Information Managers – the New Zealand equivalent of the UK’s Society of IT Management) identified that the most common e-democracy measures throughout the country were: online submissions; online surveys; and RSS feeds. Key constraints for not offering more e-government services were costs, lack of knowledge and a lack of staff and resources.
ALGIM chief executive Mike Manson told E-Government Bulletin that many smaller councils in New Zealand lack the budget and resources to drive forward e-government measures, but that their reach and influence will nevertheless increase over the next few years. “The greatest driver [will come from] shared services … and e-voting will emerge as a shared application nationwide. The influence of e-democracy will change the way councils publish information, seek feedback, structure their back office processes, and continue to create a full 24/7 service capability”, said Manson.
For a full report on New Zealand e-democracy see feature, this issue.
NOTE: Article originally published in E-Government Bulletin issue 307.
Click here to visit/return to issue 307 index
