First, the development process and major achievements of e-government in Australia
With the development of information technology, the construction of e-government in Australia is developing continuously. Especially since the 1990s, the Australian government has taken information network technology (ict) as an important driving force for national economic and social development, vigorously promoted the application of ICT in government administration and public services, and improved the application and development level of e-government. The construction of e-government in Australia has generally gone through three stages:
First, the stage of office automation. Since the 1980s, with the emergence and popularization of personal computers, Australian federal government, state government and local government began to use information network technology to handle internal affairs of institutions, and implemented office automation and paperless. Through this stage of work, the Australian government office has realized the transformation from paper documents to electronic documents, which not only strengthens the information awareness of government staff, but also improves the efficiency of government office and saves administrative costs.
Second, the government's online stage. From 65438 to 0993, Australia started the National Information Infrastructure Project (nii) to build a networked service-oriented government. 1997, the Australian federal government proposed that all departments of the federal government should access the internet before the end of 20001. In order to provide more convenient and efficient services to the public, the federal government organized and implemented the "Government Online" project in 2000. Through this stage of work, all departments of the Australian federal government have successfully completed the goal of providing the public with needed information and services through the Internet, and won favorable comments from the public.
Third, the service integration stage. In order to improve the efficiency of government work and close the relationship with the public, on the basis of the work in the first two stages, in 2002, the Australian federal government put forward an e-government development strategy with the goal of "better service and better government", aiming at integrating online services among federal, state and local governments and departments, promoting information sharing among governments and departments at different levels, and providing one-stop services for the public. Through this stage of work, the integration of information resources and the level of information enjoyment have made remarkable progress, and the level of serving the public has been greatly improved.
After years of development, Australia's e-government construction has achieved remarkable results. Mainly manifested in: first, from the international comparison, Australia's e-government development level ranks among the world's leading ranks, second only to the United States and Canada, ranking third in the world. Second, the construction of government portals has achieved remarkable results. Governments and departments at all levels in Australia have established their own websites, covering all aspects of economy, society and life, and all departments have basically realized network links and interconnection. The Australian government portal website opened in early July 2004 links to more than 700 websites of Australian government agencies, which can link to more than 6,543,800 government departments' webpages. The website provides a powerful search function, and the information and services provided are carefully classified according to the user groups and themes, so that users can find the information they need conveniently. The website integrates the information and services of Australian governments at all levels, forming a one-stop portal with fast delivery speed, comprehensive content and strong pertinence. Third, public satisfaction is high. So far, all the services provided by the federal government to the public suitable for accessing the Internet are conducted through the Internet. According to the latest survey, 39% of Australian adults inquire about government information through the Internet, 64% of adults handle electronic payment matters such as tax refund through the Internet, and 90% of netizens' information and service needs have been met. Fourth, economic benefits and social benefits achieve a win-win situation. By promoting the construction of e-government, not only the management function of the government is fully exerted, but also the credibility of the government is obviously improved and the administrative expenditure of the government is greatly reduced. According to the chief information officer of Victoria Asia, through the application of e-government, the state agricultural bureau, infrastructure construction bureau, social service bureau and environmental protection bureau save more than 6,543,800,000 Australian dollars in office expenses every year.
Second, the main practices and experiences of e-government construction in Australia
Australia has many good practices in the construction of e-government and accumulated a lot of experience worth learning from. During the training inspection, the following points impressed me the most:
(a) the development ideas are clear, and the management system and working mechanism are relatively perfect.
The Australian government regards e-government construction as a long-term strategic task of building a service-oriented government, and adheres to the principles of government-led, public-centered, public service as the main line and standardization as technical support, with long-term planning, rational layout, coordinated promotion and small steps. From the federal government to the state governments, long-term development goals and short-term construction plans have been formulated, and various government departments have also formulated specific implementation plans according to these goals and plans. To promote e-government, government departments should start with projects with urgent needs, obvious benefits and easy implementation, and then promote their application after achieving results. Governments and departments at all levels have also formulated performance evaluation systems and unified technical and service standards. In this way, e-government construction at all levels has clear objectives and unified standards, which not only ensures the consistency of policy objectives and effects, but also effectively avoids repeated construction and waste.
In order to ensure the smooth implementation of e-government, Australia has established the online council, the Federal Government Information Management Strategy Committee (imsc), the Federal Government Chief Information Officer Committee (cioc) and the Federal Government Information Management Office (agimo), and established and improved the strategic management organization, organization and coordination organization and office of e-government construction, which has provided a strong organizational guarantee for promoting the national e-government construction. The Online Service Committee is an organization that conducts consultation and coordination work across federal, state and local governments. Its main task is to ensure the coordinated development of national e-government construction. The Federal Government Information Management Strategy Committee is the strategic management organization of the national e-government construction, responsible for formulating unified e-government management policies, leading the government's investment, research and development and construction in the field of information network technology, and providing suggestions to the Cabinet. The chairman of the information management strategy committee of the federal government is concurrently the Minister of Finance and Administration, and its members include the top executive heads of the Prime Minister's Cabinet Department, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, etc. 1 1 federal departments. The Committee of Chief Information Officer of the federal government is the organization and coordination body of e-government construction, which is mainly responsible for publishing the priority projects determined by the Information Management Strategy Committee, guiding the popularization and application of information network technology in government departments, and deciding the development strategy. The CIO Committee reports to the Information Strategy Committee. The federal government information management office is headed by the chief information officer of the federal government, and is responsible for giving opinions and suggestions on the development of e-government and implementing the decisions of the information management strategy committee. Its specific responsibilities include leading and managing information network technology projects of government departments, managing government online and e-government services, and promoting cooperation in information services and applications of government departments.
(2) Pay attention to infrastructure construction and improve the Internet penetration rate.
The Australian government attaches great importance to the construction of e-government infrastructure and has taken effective measures to promote it. The first is policy guidance. The federal government issued the National Network Bandwidth Demand Report, formulated the industrial investment plan and action framework for improving communication conditions in remote areas, and the plan for implementing digital communication, and successively issued a series of preferential tax policies (such as tariff reduction and exemption for imported equipment needed by the information industry). The second is to increase investment. Every year, Australian finance arranges budget to support the construction of e-government. In 2004, the Australian federal government approved a scientific and technological innovation plan for the information industry, with a total budget of A $5.3 billion to support the research and development of the information industry. The Australian federal government also plans to invest 1 1 billion Australian dollars in telecommunications infrastructure construction in the next three years, and invest 2 billion Australian dollars to improve the network coverage of remote rural areas and indigenous communities, so as to increase the Internet penetration rate. The third is to introduce a market competition mechanism, cancel the quantitative restrictions on licensed operations, and achieve complete open competition. Australian Communications Corporation also started the process of privatization, and its private share reached 49.9% in 1999. Since the opening of the market, more than 30 companies have entered the Australian telecommunications market. By adopting market mechanism and carrying out project bidding, the speed and quality of informatization construction have been improved and the allocation of information resources has been effectively improved. Due to the introduction of competition mechanism, the cost of network communication between enterprises and citizens has been significantly reduced.
(3) Adhere to the people-oriented principle and provide convenient and efficient services for the public.
The Australian government regards the public as the "customer" of the government, takes people-oriented as the basic concept of e-government construction, and strives to provide convenient and efficient services to the public. First, design and build an e-government system according to public demand. The Australian government has established three principles of e-government construction, namely "goal-oriented, user-oriented and problem-oriented", and revised the construction objectives in different periods and stages in time according to the needs of the market and users. In the early days of e-government, the websites of Australian government departments were mainly designed according to the government's organizational structure and business processes. There are too many government websites with complex contents, which makes it time-consuming and laborious for users to obtain information from the Internet. In order to solve this problem, the Australian government timely adjusted the former government-centered construction principle to the principle of facing users and serving the public, and reconstructed the government service process according to the needs of users, constantly expanding the service field, making it easier for citizens and enterprises to obtain government online services. The second is to actively promote the construction of government portals. The Australian government integrates website construction for users by building government portals. By building a government portal website, the Australian government integrates online information and services for users and simplifies the process for the public to find government services and information. Users can directly obtain the required service content through a "window" without knowing the organizational structure and functional division within the government, which greatly saves the public's time. According to reports, the traditional way to register a company takes 15 working days, while online registration only takes 15 minutes; Traditional tax refund takes 14 working days, while online tax refund only takes 4 working days. In addition to comprehensive portals, Australian governments at all levels have also built many professional portals, which are mainly divided into user groups and industries. User group websites mainly include enterprise websites, elderly websites, women's websites, teenagers' websites, indigenous websites and family websites, while industry websites mainly include agricultural websites, cultural websites, education websites, employment websites and environmental protection websites. The construction of professional portals has also achieved remarkable results. Take the corporate website as an example. In addition to providing information about entrepreneurship, taxation, licenses and laws, the website also provides more than 2,900 government services for enterprises. During the inspection, I heard many examples of facilitating public access to information and services through government portals. For example, after retirement, the elderly can obtain welfare information such as medical care and insurance online and go through relevant procedures online; Children need to go to school, and parents can also obtain relevant information such as procedures and precautions through the Internet. The third is to improve the professional information service for special groups. The Australian government proposes that all Australian citizens can enjoy the benefits brought by information technology, and government services should not be limited to wealthy elites or a few technology enthusiasts. To this end, the Australian government has specially established information service centers for rural areas, remote areas and the elderly to provide special information services for the disabled and other vulnerable groups, such as establishing special websites and developing reading systems for the blind.
(4) Improve the security system to ensure the security of e-government system.
The Australian federal government aims to establish a safe and reliable cyberspace and strive to do a good job in security. The first is to train safety personnel and strengthen safety awareness. The information management office of the federal government, in conjunction with relevant departments of the federal government, research institutions and related enterprises, has added information security courses in it education and established an information security professional certification system. At the same time, a plan to raise public awareness of information security covering all kinds of organizations and all citizens has been formulated. For enterprises, the key point is to popularize the concept that information security is closely related to the survival and development of enterprises; For individuals, the focus is on popularizing safety legal knowledge, safety ethics education and safe use of the Internet. The second is to formulate safety laws and regulations. Various departments of the Australian federal government have formulated a series of laws, standards and guidelines related to information security, including telecommunications transmission law, anti-spam law, digital protection law, information security manual, etc., so that information security work has laws to follow and rules to follow. The third is to increase investment in the construction of the security system. In the 2002-2003 budget, the government proposed to invest 24.9 million Australian dollars in the national information security strategy in the next four years. With the support of national financial funds, Australia opened a special security website in June 5438+February 2003, which enabled Australian government agencies to respond to information security attacks more quickly and effectively. The fourth is to build a national e-government certification framework to ensure the interconnection of the security systems of federal government departments and state governments, and to provide security for the development of one-stop comprehensive services. Fifth, pay attention to the protection of personal privacy (personal information) Personal privacy in Australia includes space privacy, domain privacy, body privacy and body privacy. The government has made strict regulations on the collection and use of personal information by government departments through laws and regulations.
Third, some inspirations and suggestions.
The development of e-government in Australia has its specific economic, political and social background, and has obvious characteristics in system, mechanism and legal system. Some policies and measures of the Australian government to promote e-government are constantly summarized and improved in practice, which has certain reference value for the construction of e-government in China. The enlightenment and suggestions are as follows:
(A) to further clarify the development direction of e-government. Australia's experience is that the construction and development of e-government follow the model of "taking the public as the center, taking service as the main line, long-term planning, unified layout, overall promotion, small steps and quick steps". At present, our bureau is in the stage of promoting the development of e-government. We should learn from Australia's experience and deal with the relationship between immediate and long-term, traditional services and electronic services, existing models and future development. In the process of construction, we should effectively solve the following problems: First, we should pay attention to unified planning. Drawing lessons from the construction principle of "object-oriented, user-oriented and problem-oriented", we should formulate e-government planning and safeguard measures to ensure the connection and coordination between plans and avoid the problems of fragmentation and repeated construction in the development of e-government. Second, pay attention to the integration of information resources. In particular, it is necessary to strengthen the integration of online information and service contents of various units, promote information sharing between units, and provide one-stop comprehensive services for the public. Third, adhere to the principle of giving priority to government affairs and putting users first. Highlight the transformation of government functions in content design, fully embody the concept of service-oriented government and people-oriented, and avoid the problems of attaching importance to electronics, neglecting government affairs, attaching importance to hardware, attaching importance to software, attaching importance to construction and neglecting application.
(2) Increase the publicity of government information. The disclosure of government information is of great significance for enhancing the transparency of government work, strengthening administrative supervision, promoting the socialization of government information resources and promoting e-government. Drawing lessons from the Australian government's practice in government information disclosure, it is suggested to focus on the following aspects: First, improve the system and methods of government information disclosure in our bureau to ensure that information disclosure has rules to follow. Second, the State Council approved the administrative licensing and administrative examination and approval of our bureau, and released non-classified government information to the society through the Internet website in time. The third is to build and improve the government portal website, as an important channel to provide information and services directly to the public, so as to facilitate the public to obtain information and services of our bureau in a timely, rapid and efficient manner.
(three) do a good job in security to ensure the safety of information and technology. Doing a good job in security and establishing a safe and credible e-government development environment are not only important contents of e-government construction, but also the premise of healthy and sustainable development of e-government. Our bureau has always attached great importance to the security of e-government, and bureau leaders have repeatedly given instructions and put forward requirements. Our bureau has established relatively perfect computer network security measures. However, some comrades do not pay enough attention to it ideologically and at work, and some do not handle classified information on the Internet as required. Therefore, it is suggested to formulate information security management measures next year to ensure the e-government and information security of our bureau.
(4) Firmly establish the concept of saving and reduce the cost of serving the people. In the construction of e-government, the Australian government has always stressed that the development of e-government should be pragmatic, and when planning and implementing e-government projects, it should not be greedy and too advanced. To this end, the Australian government has developed a variety of e-government performance evaluation tools to help governments at all levels and their departments evaluate the demand for e-government services, evaluate the economic and social benefits of online services, and then continuously improve services. At the same time, the Australian government attaches great importance to the cost control of e-government services and strives to reduce the cost of serving the people and receiving public services. The Australian government has formulated detailed price rules for government information disclosure, listed all or part of the cases that can be exempted from fees, and made clear the annual cost budget of government agencies participating in information disclosure affairs, so as to control the cost of government information disclosure and save the expenses that the public needs to pay for obtaining information. There has been no special fund for the informatization construction of our bureau. Every year, bureau leaders try to adjust from other funds. Therefore, we should adhere to the principles of paying equal attention to construction and economy, unified planning, unified construction and unified management, especially for new projects, we should strictly examine and control, make good use of limited funds, strive to enhance practicality and improve services, and we should not only pay attention to form but ignore content, resulting in a waste of financial, material and resources.