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Internet Party

New Zealand Political Party.

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Overview

Problems identified

1.1 Context

A Responsive Government is one that works for the people, not the other way around. ‘Working for the people’ has many dimensions- from trust in government to efficiency to customer focus to accountability.

One way to look at responsiveness is to recognise that Government plays several different roles and people have a different expectation from Government in each of the roles. Responsiveness is then not a single measure but the aggregate of varying accountability, each one appropriate to the different role undertaken by Government.

The varying roles of Government (and the status of people in relation to that role) include as a:

  • enforcer of laws (subject of the State);
  • service provider (customer and partner);
  • creator of laws and regulation (voter);
  • customer (vendor and contractor); and
  • funder and investor (economic agent).

This policy considers both aspects of Government - the ‘Government’ as in the Executive (Cabinet and Ministers) as well as ‘government’ to mean the State Sector (public services).

1.2 Increased transparency

Other than media announcements and adversarial Parliamentary oversight, there is little transparency or understanding of how Government works. There is even less about why a particular decision or regulation was introduced. Government expenditure is published in formats and ways that make it hard for people to get an insight into how it’s being spent or if any particular interest groups or companies are being favoured.

Dealing with bureaucracies- including government bureaucracy- can be very frustrating, disempowering, and no way to seek redress or equitable outcomes.

1.3 Better government services

Government services are still primarily delivered based on silos with more focus on inward looking performance measures over customer satisfaction. ‘Digital first’ services are still an exception and are often simply online versions of legacy government processes. As measured by people’s perceptions of government services, there has been no discernible improvement in recent years.

Failures in government projects and security are increasingly apparent. The intense pressure to reduce expenditure on the public services has resulted in loss of core in-house expertise and veiled reporting. The intense pressure hasn’t produced a leadership response to accelerate technology-enabled transformation of government’s services.

Government procurement remains myopically focused on upfront costs while the benefits of open standards and open source software remain untapped. Also untapped are opportunities to reduce the time and effort required by businesses, especially Small and Medium Enterprises, in complying with government’s regulations, interactions, and reporting requirements.

1.4 Increased participation

There is a persistent downward trend in voting and civic participation. The lack of participation in the democratic process is most tangible amongst those who could potentially have the most to gain. Increasingly, people want a more granular say on laws and are unwilling to accept any Government having a mandate to do whatever it wants in between general elections.

The standard government consultation process is fundamentally broken with often token efforts made too late to really improve or impact on decisions already made. The government is largely absent from where people and businesses are increasingly present and engaged.

2. Relevant data/research

2.1 Office of the Ombudsman

The first New Zealand Ombudsman was appointed in 1962. New Zealand was the fourth country, after Sweden, Finland and Denmark, to establish the office of Ombudsman. Since then, several legislations have extended the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction to local government and Crown entities. In 1983 the Ombudsman was given the function of investigating and reviewing complaints about decisions made by Ministers of the Crown and central government agencies on requests for information under the Official Information Act.

While the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction is very wide in terms of the government organisations it covers, the role in investigating complaints about state sector agencies is very narrow. For example, in relation to ACC (Accident Compensation Corporation) the Ombudsman can only look at actions which are not related to a decision on a claim such as actions taken by ACC in seeking repayment of a debt or delays in responding to correspondence.

According to the 2014/2018 Statement of Intent, “The Ombudsmen are appointed by Parliament to give effect to a number of key democratic measures aimed at safeguarding the rights of individuals and promoting government accountability and transparency. In essence, we investigate, review and inspect the administrative conduct of state sector agencies and provide advice and guidance, in order to ensure people are treated fairly in New Zealand.”

The Statement of Intent reveals an organisation working under very tight constraints, including resource availability, noting that “From 2013/14 onwards, we have had to reduce our performance targets for the completion of particular complaints and investigations within nominated timeframes.”

The Office of the Ombudsman can be contrasted with the operation of other Ombudsmen in New Zealand. For example, the Banking Ombudsman Scheme independently seeks to not only investigate but also resolve disputes between customers and their banking services providers. The Banking Ombudsman can act when a “complaint is about a specific banking or other financial service that has been provided to you” but not “a participant’s commercial judgement, eg whether it should lend you money.”

The Banking Ombudsman Scheme only considers a complaint “if the Scheme Participant has already fully considered the complaint using its internal complaint procedures.” Further, “The organisational structure must promote public confidence that the Scheme is truly independent… The Scheme is required to produce decisions which are fair and seen to be fair by observing the principles of natural justice and by making credible and robust decisions.”

Another similar scheme is the Insurance & Savings Ombudsman. It provides a free, “independent and impartial opinion on disputes” which is not binding on consumers. Before the Scheme can consider a complaint, the person needs to have used their financial service provider’s internal dispute resolution process and reached the end of it without resolution.

2.2 Better Public Services

According to the State Services Commission, “New Zealand’s State sector faces increasing expectations for better public services in the context of prolonged financial constraints compounded by the global financial crisis. There is demand for improvements in addressing complex, long-term issues that affect New Zealanders.”

“The key to doing more with less lies in productivity, innovation, and increased agility to provide services. Agencies need to change, develop new business models, work more closely with others and harness new technologies in order to meet emerging challenges.”

‘Better Public Services’ has set ten resultsin the following five areas:

  • Reducing long-term welfare dependence;
  • Supporting vulnerable children;
  • Boosting skills and employment;
  • Reducing crime; and
  • Improving interaction with government.

For the last area above, there are two focus areas. Result 9 is “New Zealand businesses have a one-stop online shop for all government advice and support they need to run and grow their business.” and Result 10 is “New Zealanders can complete their transactions with the Government easily in a digital environment.”

As at the latest update in February 2014, three areas were on track, five on track but changes not yet embedded, and three were making progress but had issues to resolve.

While the Better Public Services focus is performance and results, the Kiwis Count Surveyincludes a measure of their quality by researching New Zealanders’ perceptions and experiences. Carried out by the State Services Commission, Government agencies use the Kiwis Count data to assist with service enhancements and design, and performance improvement.

Based on the latest quarterly update to March 2014, the overall Service Quality Score has remained unchanged at 72 since June 2012 when the quarterly surveys were first introduced. Detailed data for the latest survey shows the lowest score was for ‘National environmental issues or the Resources Management Act’ at 44 and the highest at 85 was for ‘Visited a public library’.

As an example of the lack of agility of public services in quickly adapting to unexpected circumstances, the Auditor General’s report of October 2013 into the EQC response to the Canterbury earthquakes says, “Although efficiency is clearly important, this report is a timely reminder for EQC and others that being in the public service means serving the needs of people… I have recommended that EQC prioritise actions that will give homeowners more certainty and improve the consistency of its practices. I have also recommended, among other matters, that EQC continue monitoring project management costs and quality assurance data to ensure that costs and quality are appropriate.”

2.3 Government ICT strategy

The Chief Executive of the Department of Internal Affairs is also the ICT Functional Leader for the State sector. He has the title of Government Chief Information Officer (CIO). The Government CIO is responsible for:

  • Setting policy, direction and standards for government ICT (Information and Communications Technologies);
  • Improving ICT investment management system-wide;
  • Establishing and managing all-of-government ICT services;
  • Shaping and developing government ICT capability; and
  • Providing ICT Assurance across government.

The Government approved the Government ICT Strategy and Action Plan to 2017 in June 2013 to give effect to the mandates given to the Government CIO. It notes that, “In the future we need to see government services, underpinned by ICT, as a single, coherent system that integrates to meet the needs of citizens, businesses and government… a change in focus for many leaders in government – one where they are required to consider the wider collective interest of government in their decisions.”

“It proposes an exit from owning and operating commodity technology assets in favour of a services-based model, and a maturing of the risk assurance framework… This will not be a fully centralised model, but rather one that increases capability sharing.”

Backed by System assurance, the four focus areas identified in the Strategy are:

  • Services are digital by default;
  • Information is managed as an asset;
  • Investment and capability are shared; and
  • Leadership and culture deliver change

Specifically in relation to cloud computing, a ‘cloud first’ approach to government’s adoption was agreed. A Cloud Computing Risk and Assurance Framework was subsequently issued. Decisions on cloud computing services require case-by-case consideration, by agency chief executives with GCIO oversight, of all cloud computing decisions, whether hosted onshore or offshore, that balances the risk and benefits appropriately. No data above RESTRICTED is allowed to be held in a public cloud, whether it is hosted onshore or offshore.

One New Zealand lobby group has identified the following eGovernment policies to achieve a vision of “To make New Zealand the world’s most connected nation”:

  • Implement the strategic view of Technology outlined in Better Public Services Result Areas 9 & 10 to provide cost effective, easy and efficient interaction with citizens and through a collaborative industry and government framework.
  • Right size government by providing efficient and effective services to citizens through digital means wherever possible.
  • Provide value for money for taxpayers by using technology to reduce the cost of interacting with government and consolidation of data repositories.
  • Support New Zealand Industry by preferring New Zealand based suppliers, recognizing that our exporters rely on being able to say “We have sold this to our own government agencies” or “our proof point is our customer base in our home market.”
  • Attract & Appoint experienced technology sector leaders to public sector senior management & governance teams to ensure technology is used strategically and implemented effectively.

2.4 Government IT projects failure

There have been several government IT projects that have failed, perhaps the most prominent recent one is Novopay. This is detailed in the Internet Party’s Modern Schools policy. Failure is not limited to the government or New Zealand.

These failures have been analysed and many lessons drawn. As one expert noted, “Combining the inherent problems associated with very large IT projects with outdated government practices greatly increases the risk factors. Enterprises of all types can track large IT project failures to several key reasons:

  • Poor or ambiguous sponsorship;
  • Confusing or changing requirements;
  • Inadequate skills or resources; and
  • Poor design or inappropriate use of new technology”.

As another example, former Auditor-General Peter Achterstraat distilled 12 key reasons for project failure from his experiences with the New South Wales public sector:

  • A poor initial business case;
  • Unclear statements of expected outcomes;
  • Lack of senior management buy-in;
  • Inadequate gateway reviews;
  • Poor communication;
  • Inadequate stakeholder engagement;
  • Scope creep (or in many cases ‘scope gallop’);
  • Conflicts of interest;
  • Optimism bias when assessing prospective benefits;
  • Group think;
  • Lack of appreciation of the ‘big picture’; and
  • Decision-makers being too imbedded in the project so they can’t see the forest for the trees.

There has already been some reviews and analysis of Novopay’s failure. According to the Report of the Ministerial Inquiry into the Novopay Project, “It is our overall view that weaknesses in project governance and leadership allowed the service to go live with a number of significant risks which the Ministry and its vendors were over-confident of managing.” As a counter-point, a submission to the Ministerial Inquiry from lobby group NZRise points to significantly wider issues.

Others have looked at dilemmas, tensions or contradictions as well as the dangers of lowest-price tendering.

The Auditor-General’s report Realising benefits from six public sector technology projects looked at six public sector ICT-enabled projects that range in cost from a few hundred thousand dollars to tens of millions of dollars. Six themes and lessons from the projects were noted that may be relevant for other ICT-enabled projects in the public sector:

  • Understanding the environment and making the most of circumstances;
  • Using a business-led, flexible, and agile approach;
  • Having strong support from leaders and senior managers;
  • Working effectively with the right people, including end users;
  • Using the right technology tools; and
  • Monitoring and understanding the benefits.

Government agencies must complete an initial Risk Profile Assessment (RPA) for any project or programme that would expose the Government to significant fiscal or ownership risk if it were not delivered within the projected functionality, cost, and timelines. The Major Projects Assurance group, now located in the Treasury, has three main functions:

There are fears that future Government IT-enabled projects may fail if the lessons of past failures are not learnt. For example, one technology leader describes the $1.5 billion planned to upgrading and transforming the New Zealand tax system as “From the outside it seems like a slow moving train crash reminiscent of earlier Big Bang projects that always blow out if they are ever delivered. It reeks of global consulting firms winning the business and then rapidly hiring a bunch of grads and putting them up in hotels for years.”

Another says, “All research on IT project failure to date is very clear on one point: the larger the project, the more likely it will fail. And the larger mess it will likely make… the only way to make a success of a large project is to break it down into a series of smaller interdependent projects, each self-contained and able to succeed or fail without bringing the whole shebang to an end… Another key benefit of a series of smaller projects is that it’s far less likely to close out the local industry.”

2.5 Government services online

The “front door” is newzealand.govt.nz where “you can find information, images and resources from all New Zealand government agencies and government funded sites.” It is a “thin” portal which provides an overview of a topic or service but links to source websites for detailed content.

Currently there is an iterative development and testing effort going on, with beta testing at Govt.nz. Constant updates are transparently provided via a blog. This is also where Guidance is available to government agencies for online services, including the Web Accessibility Standard, Web Usability Standard, Security and privacy, and Social media.

The Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) is the lead agency for achieving the Government’s ‘Better Public Services’ Result 10: “New Zealanders can complete their transactions with government easily in a digital environment”. The Result 10 target is “By 2017 an average of 70% of New Zealanders’ most common transactions with government will be completed in a digital environment”.

In summary, the Blueprint for Result 10 is Digital by Choice, Digital by Design, and Digital by Default. This is based on “an opportunity to improve customers’ experience of government services, while at the same time reducing cost to serve”.

The detailed Blueprint published in June 2014 notes that “in many ways government’s business models still reflect the approaches and structures of the 1980s and ’90s, with Internet technologies having been gradually ‘clipped on’ to deliver incremental benefits”. It has ten priority actions to “build on innovation, and collaborate to share learnings and best practice across the public sector. Over time, we will drive a shift from a siloed, agency-centric approach to service design and delivery to a joined-up, integrated approach.”

Progress on Result 10 is measured by a “basket” of the ten most common transactions New Zealanders’ use that are suitable for transition to the digital environment. The latest quarterly updatesare for Jan-Mar 2014 and show average achievement of 42.0%, with individual results varying from 0% to 91.7%. Results for the quarter are lower than the previous quarter’s 43.4% but higher than the 41.0% before that.

According to the Kiwis Count Channels Report 2013 about two-thirds of New Zealanders had used the Internet to deal with public services. The Internet is the more preferred channel for looking for information about public services and for transacting with or having dealings with public services. However, the rate of change towards the Internet use is gradual rather than transformational, and there is still heavy use of, and preference for, other channels as well as using multiple channels for a single service.

The top two factors that would encourage people to use more online services are also the two that have had large increases since the previous survey in 2009. ‘Make it simple and user friendly’ has increased over the three year period from 63% to 83% while the second, ‘Ensure my privacy is protected’, has gone from 48% to 64%. On the other hand, ‘Have one website for all public services’ has declined from 30% to 27%.

2.6 RealMe

RealMe does two jobs- a single login to multiple online services and, if a person upgrades to a verified RealMe account, it also works as the person’s online ID. The online ID is a person’s unique identity verified by four pieces of information- full name, date of birth, place of birth and gender. Setting up a verified RealMe account requires a photo taken at a participating PostShop and optionally adding a verified address.

Originally launched as the all-of-government service igovtin 2007, RealMe functions both as an online ID as well as authentication for online services. While protecting the user’s privacy, it provides the convenience of a single logon across multiple organisations and a way to verify a person’s identity online. The service has won an award for being innovative and is shortlisted for another one.

Online identity verification is regulated by the Electronic Identity Verification Act 2012. Since then, two banks- TSB and BNZ- have allowed new customers to use their verified RealMe accounts to prove their identity online to open a bank account while still meeting the identity verification requirements of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism legislation. The only other organisations where a verified RealMe account can be used as an online ID seem to be the Electoral Commission for online enrolment and opening an account with NZ Forex.

There are a large number of organisations using the RealMe logon capability.

RealMe, and igovt before it, has been criticised for being difficult to use. The need to go to a PostShop to get a photograph taken to get a verified RealMe account is also a barrier to take-up.

Despite its strict privacy architecture and governing legislation, some people still have privacy concerns regarding RealMe as well as the complexity involved for organisations to integrate it with their legacy online systems. Currently there are there are over 1.5 million RealMe logins, and 17,000 people with a RealMe Verified account.

2.7 Better services to businesses

The Better Public Services Result 9 programme is led by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and delivered in partnership with eight government agencies. The aim is to provide:

  • Better integration of services;
  • Services designed for business; and
  • Increased digital service delivery.

There are two targets for this programme:

  • Reduce costs- Business costs from dealing with government will reduce by 25% by 2017, through reducing effort required to work with agencies.
  • Improve service- Government services will have similar Key Performance Ratings to leading private sector firms by 2017.

While some Better Public Services Results have historical trends to use, a new measurement system was developed to track progress. Result 9 has a reference group made up of a sample of businesses, which is being surveyed annually from 2013 to 2017, and this group’s survey responses are used to measure progress against the targets.

According to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment the first survey, completed in October 2013, revealed that the majority of reference group members had not yet perceived a change in effort, i.e. there was no discernible increase or decrease. Overall the effort of dealing with Government was rated 5.08 out of 10 where 10 is a great deal of effort. The effort of dealing with private enterprises (banks and insurance companies) was rated 3.79.

Those who perceived a decrease in effort cited the improved ability to interact online and other improvements in systems and processes. This is supported by customer insights that show increasing digital pick up of government services is a key indicator for reducing perceived and actual effort.

Some initiatives that government is undertaking under the Results 9 programme are:

  • At the heart of the Result 9 programme is the establishment of the New Zealand Business Number (NZBN). The NZBN is a 13-digit number, a single identifier which over time aims to become the only number that businesses use to interact with a range of government agencies and other businesses. All key government agencies that work regularly with businesses will be required to recognise and use the new New Zealand Business Number by the end of 2017.
  • An overhaul of the online system for applying for and managing patents, which is managed by the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand. Tasks that previously took days can be done instantly.
  • Inland Revenue launched a new online service for businesses, filing GST through ‘myIR’ Secure Online Services. By 31 January 2013 more than 70,000 businesses had filed over 150,000 GST returns. (Based on Sept - Jan volumes, 14.5% of GST returns filed).
  • Significant improvements to the Companies Office website to enable users to obtain relevant information or complete compliance obligations immediately.
  • Launching Business.govt.nz’s ONECheck tool that combines a company name, domain and trade mark search in one place online.

2.8 Government procurement

One New Zealand lobby group has identified the following barriers in the government’s procurement strategy and processes:

  • Insufficient early engagement with providers in the procurement process;
  • The cost for providers to respond to tenders;
  • Inconsistent interpretation and application of the procurement rules by agencies;
  • Expertise resides mostly with providers;
  • Procurement benefits are not consistently or thoroughly assessed; and
  • Risk is poorly managed.

Solutions proposed were transparency, governance, prototyping, local capability, inclusivity, training, and funding. Specifically in relation to building local capability the report says, “As well as ensuring that there is a knowledge transfer between providers and purchasers, the government’s procurement decisions can have a wider impact on local capability. By acknowledging as part of the evaluation criteria the benefits of investing in local industries, the public sector can contribute to a vibrant and sustainable IT sector, one that is increasingly able to generate export dollars in the weightless economy.”

“This criteria would be a macro-economic assessment of the cost and benefits to the taxpayer of each of the solutions.”

According to New Zealand Trade & Enterprises publication Developing and Implementing Local Industry Participation Plans: A Guide for Project Owners benefits of testing the local market and buying competitive local products and services can include:

  • Lower quality conformance cost;
  • Lower repair risk;
  • Provide options for cost savings through responsiveness to innovation and design changes;
  • Provide savings through shorter lead times;
  • Lower whole of life cost;
  • Reduce exchange rate risks;
  • Provide good public relations as a corporate citizen; and
  • Contribute to the development of the local economy.

A report prepared for Catalyst IT Ltd by Economics New Zealand Ltd in November 2011 regarding ‘The benefits of local IT procurement’ identified potential benefits including:

  • Local IT companies are cost effective, with a 25-35% cost advantage over Australian companies and larger cost advantages compared to the US or UK;
  • The multiplier and tax revenue effects of local procurement substantially reduce the net cost to the government of local contracts. As an example, the net cost of a $115K (GST inclusive) contract reduces to around $67K; and
  • Local suppliers have untapped export potential and can also reduce our import bills.

There are good examplesfrom Barcelona and Philadelphia on fundamentally changing government procurement. In the case of Barcelona, “Rather than laying out exactly what it wants to buy (say, bike lockers), Barcelona is laying out six problems it wants to fix (such as reducing bike theft). Responses could involve buying things, but they might also suggest new services, regulatory changes or any other means of accomplishing the goal.”

Philadelphia is an example of embedding the ‘civic hacking’ of one-off hackathons and apps challenges to a well structured solutions approach that includes bringing together “a diverse group of entrepreneurs whose varied backgrounds in technology or marketing or finance would complement each other.”

2.9 Open data

The New Zealand Government Open Access and Licensing framework ( NZGOAL), approved by Cabinet in July 2010, is government guidance for agencies to follow when releasing copyright works and non-copyright material for re-use by others. It is mandatory for the Public Service and non-Public Service departments to take it into account when releasing material for re-use by others.

NZGOAL seeks to standardise the licensing of government copyright works for re-use using Creative Commons New Zealand law licences and recommends the use of ‘no-known rights’ statements for non-copyright material. The purpose of this framework is facilitate the sharing of government data to enable the development of new services by the public sector as well as allow insights into government policy development, leading to creative and economic benefit for New Zealand.

In August 2011, the Government issued the Declaration on Open and Transparent Government, stating that: “Building on New Zealand’s democratic tradition, the government commits to actively releasing high value public data.”

The Declaration further states that, “Through this commitment New Zealand citizens and businesses can expect a more efficient and accountable public sector, more services tailored to their needs, and a greater level of participation in shaping government decisions.”

According to the 2014 report on adoption of the Declaration, “Progress in 2014 has varied… Twelve departments (compared with ten in 2013 and six in 2012) are consistently releasing public data fully compliant with the Declaration.”

2.10 Open source software

In one presentation, the benefits for open source software to government are explained as:

  • You pay for the software development once, and after that, it’s free, for everyone. Well, it is licence free.
  • Following on from this: Others are actively encouraged to improve and extend your software, and depending on licence, these improvements are usually given away for free as well.
  • Next, because the software is available for free, it is hard to apply vendor lock in tactics. Governments can change their support company without being forced to change their software. And this reduces long term project risk.

A letter written in 2002 by David Lane and co-signed by over 400 hundred New Zealanders called for “an official position favouring “open source” software (OSS) for computing in the government and in business. We believe OSS presents a much better option for New Zealand than the current situation - nationwide dependence on the software sold by a single foreign vendor whose extremely competitive marketing tactics have caused considerable concern in the US courts.”

In March 2006 the State Services Commission issued guidance for New Zealand departments about the legal risks and issues associated with the use of open source software licences. It noted that the overall position on open source was published in a 2003 briefing to the State Services Minister, and that the advice still stands- “Government agencies will still make their decisions based on the four fundamentals: cost, functionality, interoperability, and security.”

The guidance remains in force and is referenced by the Guidelines for the Treatment of Intellectual Property Rights in ICT Contracts which sets out the government policy for State Services agencies to follow. This Guideline also specifies that, as a general rule, commercialisation of intellectual property should be carried out by the commercial sector and not government.

2.11 Declining voter participation, accessibility, and online voting

According to official Electoral Commission statistics, there were 3.07 million registered voters for the 2011 General Elections with 74.2% casting their vote. This was down from 79.5% in 2008 and 80.9% in 2005.

According to an independent survey of voter satisfaction for the 2011 General Elections, the main overall reasons for not voting were that they had other or work commitments (23%), could not be bothered voting (14%), couldn’t work out who to vote for (11%) and that their vote would not make a difference (8%).

While 64% of non-voters had considered voting, 43% of non-voters decided on Election Day that they would not vote.

Findings from the New Zealand General Social Survey, based on self-reported voting behaviour 18 years old or over, found that 20% of New Zealanders did not cast a vote in the 2011 General Election(this includes people who said they were not enrolled or not eligible to vote).

The main reason people gave for not voting was they ‘didn’t get round to it, forgot or were not interested’ to vote. This accounted for 21% of the non-voters and is included in the ‘disengaged’ category which in total accounts for 43.2% of the people that did not vote.

The lack of participation in the democratic process is most tangible amongst young citizens. Only 5.2% of people aged 65 years or over did not vote, compared with 42% of people aged 18–24 years. Other categories of non-voters include people with inadequate income, unemployed, and recent migrants.

Ten percent of non-voters were ‘overseas or away on the election day’.

More young non-voters would be motivated to participate in September’s general election by online voting than a one-off $50 payment, according to the results of a student survey conducted by Massey University. Of the respondents who indicated they did not intend to vote, 75% said they would be more likely to vote if online voting was introduced.

New Zealand is legally obliged to make voting accessible to all as a signatory of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 which requires a disabled person has the same right to vote by “equal suffrage and by secret ballot” as any other adult person. However, in the current context, some disabled people can be denied this right.

According to the Human Rights Commission, disabled people experience barriers to exercising their rights to vote and participate politically such as inaccessible information and voting papers, limited voting methods, and a lack of physical facilities enabling engagement with politicians. The right to a secret ballot can be compromised for voters who experience difficulty completing their voting paper due to physical disability or those who are blind or visually impaired.

The Electoral Commission is undertaking work to bring in more accessible voting methods. Telephone dictation voting will be available for the 2014 election for blind or visually impaired voters. However, the requirement for voters to pre-register for the service places an additional burden on participation that able-bodied voters do not have to achieve.

A survey conducted for the Electoral Commission following the 2011 General Election found that most voters with a disability (80%) went to a polling place on Election Day. Online voting was preferred by 39% of voters with a disability and 62% of non-voters with a disability.

A trial of online voting will take place in the 2016 local authority elections. A working party has been set up, with its report expected shortly. According to the relevant Cabinet paper, “Online voting presents an opportunity to:

  • make voting more convenient, inclusive and accessible for electors, particularly disabled and young electors, and reduce voting errors;
  • respond to the demand for change and address issues for local authority elections such as low elector turnout and possible postal service reductions; and
  • improve elector authentication by harnessing the RealMe system, which enables individuals to assert their identities online when accessing identity sensitive services.”

“Overseas experience shows that it takes several election cycles with online voting to build public confidence in the method and rates of usage.” In relation to potential security issues with online voting, the Cabinet paper says:

“Online voting introduces new security and operational risks to the local electoral system that would need to be managed. For example, an online voting system is potentially vulnerable to:

  • service design flaws, bugs and other technical faults; and
  • fraudulent voting and fraudulent voting system interference (for example, hacker attacks).

Public confidence and trust in elections would be undermined if there were technical or security problems with online voting. Robust regulations, extensive risk mitigation, security and audit measures are necessary to ensure reliability, accuracy and integrity of any online voting system.”

2.12 Referenda

Referenda are widely considered a powerful tool to engage citizens directly in the democratic process, particularly in light of growing voter apathy and disenchantment with voting.

In New Zealand, a referendum is a vote by all enrolled electors on a question. There are two types- Government Initiated Referendum and Citizens Initiated Referendum.

Government Initiated Referenda are usually used to gauge opinion on constitutional matters such as the voting system or term or parliament. Legislation is required to enable a Government initiated referendum to be held unless it is conducted by postal vote under the Referenda (Postal Voting) Act 2000.

On the other hand, a Citizens Initiated Referendum can be called by an individual to propose or oppose any law change. It is governed by the Citizens Initiated Referenda Act 1993. A referendum question must have only two possible answers. The form of the petition must be approved by the Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Only Government Initiated Referenda can be binding on the government, and they usually are not. Citizens Initiated Referenda cannot be binding, making it possible for governments to ignore the outcomes.

The major barrier to a Citizens Initiated Referendum making it to the vote is that a promoter must collect the signatures of 10% of electors on paper forms within a 12 month timeframe to initiate a referendum. The number of signatures needed, based on the current estimated enrolment of 3.01 million, is approximately 300,000.

This makes successfully organising a referendum an enormous task that would generally be out of reach of individuals. There is no provision for the digital collection of signatures for a petition.

Opinion is divided on whether or not Citizens Initiated Referenda should or should not be binding. For example, two legal academics have argued that they pose leading questions, do not propose effective solutions, and could be motivated by ‘passion or political expediency’. Another has dismissed it “as no more useful than a well conducted opinion poll.” Referenda gauge the view of the majority, and this could put minority interests at risk. A binding Citizens’ Initiated Referendum could be used to unfairly target the gay community or specific ethnic and religious groups, for example to halt Treaty of Waitangi claims. On the other side, some political parties have made binding referenda a core policy.

3. Examples of global leadership

3.1 E-Estonia

Estonia has made headlines as being a global leader in e-governance. Since declaring Internet access a human right in 2000, Estonia has made massive investments in digital government services and Internet infrastructure in order to propel Estonia to the digital age.

All Estonians are issued identity cards that can are used as both a physical and an electronic identity. A chip in the card holds two certificates – one is used to electronically authenticate identity and the other is used to render a digital signature – which together with a card reader and a 5-digit pin is the key to interacting with e-services such as Internet banking, e-elections, e-healthcare, public transportation, and much more. Recently a similar feature has been introduced into SIM cards, without the need to use a card reader. As a general rule, government systems in Estonia are not allowed to store the same information in more than one place.

More than 400 government services are accessible via one website - the State Porta l - which Estonians can log into using their e-ID. People are able to see which officials have viewed their data, and viewing a person’s data without a valid reason is an offense punishable by imprisonment.

Estonia has probably the most joined up digital government in the world. It is underpinned by a national population register with a unique identifier for each person and identity cards, an approach that is fundamentally different than New Zealand. However, the benefits from their e-government systems can be achieved in New Zealand using our own approach of distributed systems.

Estonia has implemented a secure e-voting system which allows Estonians to vote using their ID cards in the knowledge that their vote is anonymous in a system that separates the vote from the digital signature. In the 2011 parliamentary elections, 24.3% of all people who voted did so electronically. People can set up a company online and start trading within 18 minutes using only their ID card.

An independent review of Estonia’s e-voting security found “staggering gaps in procedural and operational security, and the architecture of the system leaves it open to cyberattacks from foreign powers, such as Russia. These attacks could alter votes or leave election outcomes in dispute. We have confirmed these attacks in our lab — they are real threats. We urgently recommend that Estonia discontinue use of the system.”

3.2 UK digital strategy, cloud computing and open data

Within the Cabinet Office (equivalent to our Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet) and the Efficiency and Reform Group, Government Digital Service (GDS) is leading the digital transformation of the UK Government.

The UK Government’s online ‘front door’ is GOV.UK. The clear, minimal, and user-friendly design earned the UK Government’s website the Design Museum’s Design of the Year award in 2013.

Another key component is the Government Gateway which is used “to register for online government services. It is an important part of the government’s strategy of delivering ‘joined up’ government, enabling people to communicate and make transactions with government from a single point of entry.”

The Government Digital Strategy sets out how government will “redesign its digital services to make them so straightforward and convenient that all those who can use them prefer to do so… We estimate that moving services from offline to digital channels will save between £1.7 and £1.8 billion a year.”

The three key priorities in the 2013 Government Digital Strategy are to:

  • Improve departmental digital leadership;
  • Develop digital capability throughout the civil service; and
  • Redesign transactional services to meet a new Digital by Default Service Standard.

Other elements of the strategy are to:

  • Complete the transition to GOV.UK;
  • Increase the number of people who use digital services;
  • Provide consistent services for people who have rarely or never been online;
  • Broaden the range of those tendering to supply digital services including more small and medium sized enterprise;
  • Build common technology platforms for digital by default services;
  • Remove unnecessary legislative barriers;
  • Base service decisions on accurate and timely management information;
  • Improve the way that the government makes policy and communicates with people;
  • Collaborate with partners across public, private and voluntary sectors to help more people go online; and
  • Help third party organisations create new services and better information access for their own users by opening up government data and transactions.

The UK Government is releasing public data to help people understand how government works and how policies are made. Some of this data is already available, but data.gov.uk brings it together in one searchable website.

One such dataset is transparency of reporting UK Government’s departmental expenditure online. Every body of the UK central government is required to report its transactional expenditure once a month.

The UK Government’s G-Cloud was first announced as part of the government’s ICT strategy in March 2011. It echoes the US Government’s Federal Cloud Computing Strategy which requires US agencies to evaluate cloud computing options before making any new investments. The G-Cloud plan calls for50% of new government IT spending to move to cloud computing services by 2015 but may miss its target “because of a lack of enthusiasm from public sector IT staff”.

One component is the CloudStore that is an online marketplace where suppliers offer their services to the public sector via the G-Cloud framework, which are agreements with suppliers that set out terms and conditions under which purchases (‘call-offs’) can be made throughout the term of the agreement.

3.3 US States’ expenditure transparency

According to Following the Money 2014 How the 50 States Rate in Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data, “Every year, state governments spend tens of billions of dollars through contracts for goods and services, subsidies to encourage economic development, and other expenditures. Accountability and public scrutiny are necessary to ensure that the public can trust that state funds are well spent.”

“In recent years, state governments across the country have created transparency websites that provide checkbook-level information on government spending – meaning that users can view the payments made to individual companies as well as details about the purchased goods, services or other public benefits. These websites allow residents and watchdog groups to ensure that taxpayers get their money’s worth.”

As an example, in 2011 the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts set up Texas Transparency, a website that provides detailed information about state expenditure, including specific datasets regarding the spending on each department that can downloaded and re-used. The site also provides information about and links to transparency efforts and the state budget process.

3.4 E-government ranking

The 2014 United Nations E-Government Survey E-Government for the Future We Want presents a “systematic assessment of the use and potential of information and communication technologies to transform the public sector by enhancing efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, accountability, access to public services and citizen participation in the 193 Member States of the United Nations, and at all levels of development.”

New Zealand is ranked 9th for E-Government and 19th for E-Participation, up 4 and 6 places respectively from the previous 2012 survey. The top five countries for E-Government are South Korea, Australia, Singapore, France, and Netherlands. Comparatively, New Zealand is rated higher for its electronic transactions presence and open data while it is rated relatively weaker for the Telecommunications Infrastructure Index. It is the world leader in the Human Capital Index.

A major thrust of the leading country, South Korea, is towards what it calls Government 3.0. Elements of this policy include proactive release of government data, two-way personalised services, and increasing channel diversity to include mobile.

3.5 Switzerland and direct democracy

Switzerland is a rare example of a country with instruments of direct democracy at the level of the towns, cantons and federal state. The origins of Switzerland’s modern system of Direct Democracy lie in the experimental phase of democracy in the 19th century when Switzerland was surrounded by monarchies on the European continent that showed little to none enthusiasm for democracy.

Average turnout is approximately 50%. This trend has recently become positive again after a long period of decreasing participation.

At the federal level, citizens can propose changes to the constitution (federal popular initiative) or ask for a referendum to be held on any law voted by the parliament. Double majorities are required on constitutional issues, which is a majority of individuals voting and also by a majority of cantons.

100,000 citizens (roughly 2.5% of the electorate) may demand for a change of the constitution by signing a form. The federal parliament is obliged to discuss the initiative, it may decide to recommend or to reject the initiative or it may propose an alternative. Whatever they choose to do, all citizens will finally decide in a referendum whether to accept the initiative, the alternate proposal or stay without change.

There is a way to have a formalised method of opinion polling before a draft referendum is even sent to the Parliament. In German, it’s called “Vernehmlassungsverfahren” [procedure to hear opinions]. This ensures that the opinions of the members of parliament are a true representation of people’s opinions in any possible political question. The “Vernehmlassungsverfahren” allows a broad spectrum of political parties, professional and cultural organisations, etc. to put forward their wishes and views and to state where the limits for a threat of referendum are for them.

The German terms “Referendumsdrohung” [threat of referendum] and “mit Referendum drohen” [threaten to call for a referendum] cannot be found in dictionaries, but they are a critical component of understanding how direct democracy works in practice in Switzerland.

4. Policy proposals

4.1 Increased transparency

Open by default

The Internet Party will amend the Cabinet Manual to make it mandatory for Government to proactively publish all Cabinet agendas, minutes, and papers online by default in order to increase transparency at the highest levels of Government. This will not apply to information that needs to be protected for reasons of privacy or national security.

Open government expenditure

Along the lines of the UK Government, the Internet Party will require all State Sector organisations to publish their transactional expenditure quarterly. Source data will follow the open data principles and be available via data.govt.nz. A standardised taxonomy, as envisaged by the USA’s Digital Accountability and Transparency (DATA) Act, will be adopted to allow for comparisons across government. Expenditure includes all types of payments made by government organisations, including grants, support funding and contract payments to individual organisations outside government. No data in contravention of the Privacy Act will be published.

The Auditor General will be required to annually assess data completeness, timeliness, quality, and accuracy of the data submitted by government organisations and their adherence to data standards.

4.2 Better government services

Technology-enabled government transformation

One of the Internet Party’s highest priorities is to lead technology-enabled government transformation, taking government into the digital age. As the relationship between the people and the State continues to evolve, New Zealand can and must innovate to maintain trust in Government, seamless services, and engaging its people.

The Internet Party will collaborate with the State Services to develop and implement a Government Digital Strategy which sets out how government will undertake this transformation, both at the level of individual organisations and the government system as a whole. It will be outcomes-led and technology-enabled, not the other way around. This requires State Services organisations, sectors, and the system as a whole to provide the leadership and results with the central agencies (Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, State Services Commission, and The Treasury) accountable to deliver the Government’s priorities, targets, and resource provision.

The Government Digital Strategy, focussed on government transformation, will be developed iteratively, simultaneous with its implementation and early gains. This will avoid spending years in coming up with a grand plan that is out of date by the time it is developed.

While appointing an individual, such as a Government Chief Technology Officer in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, could help, technology-enabled government transformation has to be led by the ‘business’, i.e. sector leaders, chief executives and senior management teams. That’s the lesson from successful private sector transformation projects, such as Air New Zealand and ASB Bank.

Information technology has a dual role- as an operational function (which will continue to be led by the Government Chief Information Officer) and as a business-led transformation tool. Systemic transformation requires systemic solutions.

While the Internet Party generally favours departmental consolidation, as an exception it favours setting up a new Ministry that brings together inward facing government technology efforts with technology-led New Zealand economic development. The State Services Commission will be directed to undertake a ‘machinery of government’ review to recommend the best solution to the systemic solution to deliver on the expectation of technology-led government transformation as well as the opportunity for New Zealand’s economy to become a global digital leader.

The new Ministry will act as an interface between businesses, ICT industry, and those with ideas to improve government services using a technology-led approach with government. It will also be able to take a ‘NZ Inc’ lead, driving New Zealand to be a global digital economy leader, by bringing together the economic development aspect with government technology-led transformation and procurement reform.

Appoint Government Services Ombudsman

The Internet Party will expand the Office of the Ombudsman by appointing a Government Services Ombudsman. This role will be sufficiently resourced, both in terms of financial resources and staff, and independently operate a government services scheme similar to the Banking Ombudsman Scheme. Government services covered under this scheme will be those where government is the sole or dominant supplier of services, including social services and accident compensation.

The Government Services Ombudsman will investigate and seek to resolve complaints from people at no cost to them in relation to the covered government services after the person has exhausted the complaint procedures provided by the government body. The Government Services Ombudsman will not question judgements about entitlement, e.g. whether the person should get a benefit, and will be able to initiate inquiries as required.

Decisions made by the Government Services Ombudsman will be binding on government organisations but will not exclude people from their normal judicial avenues. The Government Services Ombudsman will be required to produce decisions which are fair, and seen to be fair, by observing the principles of natural justice and by making credible and robust decisions.

Promote customer service culture and approach

Where government is the sole or dominant supplier of services, the Internet Party will further promote adopting a customer service culture and a customer-centric approach. Responsible government organisations will be required to develop and publish Service Level Targets with performance reporting every half year. They will also have to conduct granular customer satisfaction surveys twice a year and publish results as well as action plans to address perceived areas of weak performance.

Widen online information and services availability

All government organisations in the State Sector will be required to ensure that their website and online services meet the requirements of the Department of Internal Affairs’ Web Accessibility Standard and Web Usability Standard. They will also be required to ensure that their website and commonly used online services are available on mobile devices within one year to a high standard.

Besides government websites, the Internet Party will push for common transactional online services to also be available from other websites. For example, it should be possible to book a hut from the Department of Conservation at a tourism operator’s website or to file GST returns from within the accounting package. To achieve this, the common online transactional services need to additionally be available as granular web services for private and non-government organisations to use, subject to meeting minimum requirements such as security and privacy protection.

The Internet Party will institute a responsible disclosure scheme for government services, both online and in-person. People and organisations will be encouraged to report loopholes and bugs in confidence. Each report will be acknowledged and a high level of communications maintained until the issue is resolved.

Strengthen functional leadership of the Government Chief Information Officer

The Government Chief Information Officer will be made more clearly responsible for the quality, performance and coordination of the Information and Communications Technologies function, both within individual organisations and the State Services as a whole. Greater emphasis will be placed on two areas which are already the responsibility of the Government Chief Information Officer- Setting policy, direction and standards; and providing ICT Assurance across government.

Improving information and systems security will receive increased focus. There is also a need to ensure that the State Services build and retain core expertise in-house, especially in the face of increasing use of contractors and the new skills demanded by greater use of cloud computing services.

The Government Chief Information Officer, as a part of functional leadership, will also be made responsible for lifting project management expertise and practice, both within individual organisations and the State Services as a whole. This includes developing best practice guidelines, ensuring proper governance and reporting, and improving risk management. Emphasis will be placed on developing a business-led, flexible, and agile approach along with strong support from senior management. Lessons learnt from successful private sector transformation projects, such as Air New Zealand and ASB Bank, will be incorporated in the guidelines as well as used by the State Services Commission in the selection and development of future leaders in the State Sector.

‘Cloud and open source software first’

The Internet Party will extend the current ‘cloud first’ policy to a ‘cloud and open source software first’ policy. The current policy already has adequate mandate but the Government Chief Information Officer will be required to give this greater priority and a greater sense of urgency. There will be no exceptions from the need to adhere to open standards. The government’s cloud computing strategy will be reviewed to ensure central setting of standards, guidance and risk management as well as accreditation and framework agreements.

Overhaul RealMe

RealMe is underperforming in its potential to become a trusted, liked and core component of online services provided both by government and businesses. In partnership with NZ Post, RealMe will undergo a substantial usability overhaul. Easier integration with RealMe and issues faced by developers will be addressed. In a second stage of investment, RealMe will be expanded to provide greater support for transactional online services and as a hub for increasing secure electronic communications between government and people, businesses, and other organisations.

Reform government ICT procurement

In addition to efficiencies and cost savings from aggregating demand, the Internet Party will require government ICT procurement to take into account a ‘whole of economy’ impact, a ‘whole of lifecycle’ cost, and supporting local suppliers. Moving from an end-of-process specification effort, procurement will be reformed to encourage innovation, build partnerships, encourage civic participation, and iterative development of smaller sized projects. The reform will ensure continued compliance with New Zealand’s international obligations and learn from best practices adopted by other governments.

Continued support for open data

The Internet Party will continue to support the government open data initiatives with a particular emphasis on agencies meeting the open data principles. Re-use of the data in useful services as well as obtaining actionable insights will be actively promoted. Non-government organisations and businesses will be encouraged to join in, adding in their own datasets based on open data principles.

4.3 Increased participation

Democracy Portal

The Internet Party will drive the creation of a Democracy Portal, a personalised website and set of apps that brings together voter participation opportunities across central and local government. All public consultations - be they from Parliament or central and local governments- will be available as well as the ability to make submissions and official information requests under the Official Information Act 1982 and the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.

People will register once with their real identity and then be able to set up preferences in accordance with their status (citizen, resident, etc.). The Democracy Portal will be designed to be mobile device optimised from the start.

It will also be used to vote online. The expectation is that central and local governments as well as their respective organisations will use the common, shared facilities of the portal for two-way information and participation initiatives. This includes live streaming, virtual town hall meetings, online Select Committee meetings, collaboration and discussion facilities, integrated social media, and public hearings.

In-principle, there is no reason these facilities cannot also be used by businesses and non-government organisations subject to meeting minimum requirements and having adequate safeguards.

Online voting

The Internet Party strongly supports the goal of online voting. Currently there are neither adequate reference implementations anywhere in the world nor an assurance that the security risks are at least as manageable as in-person voting. The Internet Party will create an expert group to develop online voting models and processes to overcome this. Staged roll-outs to build familiarity and trust will be preferred, starting with local council and health board elections.

Online Citizens’ Initiated Referendum

The Internet Party will amend the Citizens Initiated Referenda Act 1993 to allow signatures for a Citizen Initiated Referendum to be collected electronically. Both the collection of signatures and the referendum itself will be run on the Democracy Portal in addition to the existing methods.

The Internet Party supports the goal of binding referenda, subject to the exclusion of a small number of areas. As a first step, a Committee of Parliament will be set up to specify areas where a referendum will not be binding. This is likely to include the areas of human rights, privacy, national security, freedom of the press, international treaties, and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This will be legislated.

Following that, the Internet Party will support making all Citizens Initiated Referenda binding, in areas other than those excluded by the new legislation, provided that at least 75% of votes cast are in favour of an option and at least 50% of eligible voters cast a valid vote.

Online Citizens’ Initiated Referendum to repeal a law passed by Parliament

The Internet Party will allow for a Citizens’ Initiated Referendum to repeal any law passed by Parliament if at least 10% of registered voters sign a petition to do so. Both the collection of signatures and the referendum itself will be run on the Democracy Portal in addition to the existing methods. For a law to be repealed, it will require 75% of votes cast to be in favour of doing so and at least 50% of eligible voters casting a valid vote.