E-government in Australia: A citizen's perspective

A representative sample of Australian web sites was investigated for its responsiveness to a request from a citizen, their accessibility, public outreach, privacy and security, among other characteristics. This research study shows that Australian e-government web sites lack a customer orientation, that is, web sites that tailor their services and tools towards the customersrsquo needs. Only a small percentage of web sites provided content in alternative languages (a limitation in a country that is characterised as multicultural), and a great majority of web sites did not respond to a simple e-mail of a citizen. Australian e-government websites are performing very well with almost 96% all examined websites posting a clear privacy policy. In terms of security 62% of the web sites provided clear statements reassuring a citizenrsquos concern for security