Tasmania is arguably leading the way in inter-governmental cooperation with its Tigers (Trials of Innovative Government Electronic Regional Services) program. Commonwealth-funded to the tune of $10 million out of the sale of the second tranche of Telstra, Tigers aims to bring together services offered across the three levels of government that sit around a particular event or transaction.
"Parents are required to register the birth of a child with the state government, for example," explains Tigers program manager, Jill Taylor, who reports directly to a steering committee comprising commonwealth, state and local government representatives and the local IT industry council."Then if they require financial assistance, Centrelink offers that at the federal level. In addition, local government provides immunisation services."
Tigers was announced in mid-1999 and is due for completion in December 2002. The online component, which Taylor says is not yet up and running, is one of three service delivery channels in the program, the other two being over-the-counter and the telephone. However, most of the money and effort is going into electronic service delivery - the centrepiece of the program, as Taylor puts it.
She says the initial aim of the program is to bring existing content together on one site so it can be accessed from a single point. The next phase will involve identifying information gaps and plugging them as well as determining opportunities for putting transactions online. Ultimately, customers should be able to access and conduct transactions with all three levels of government from the one site.
The principal benefit to the customer of Tigers, Taylor claims, is 24x7 Internet access and ease in dealing with government. Free Internet access will also be available at Service Tasmania shops (a previous Tasmanian government initiative) for those without home or business access. She also envisages that Tigers will streamline government processes and reduce the number of enquiries.
"A lot of customers like the notion of self-help whereby they can do things at their own time. That frees agencies up to do other things and enables them to make better decisions about where their resources need to be invested. But we're coming from a customer perspective and saying that, if I'm a customer and I have to do this transaction or deal with this event, I want to do be able to do it succinctly.
"We want to make sure we have a good product so that people's first experience with it will bring them back. Internet banking is increasing at quite a significant rate because the product's good and it's there. We don't have the product, but we believe, once we get it, we're going to see a similar increase in uptake."
Taylor anticipates the take-up of Tigers will come from both businesses and the general community, depending on the nature of the service - for example whether it involves export services or recreational fishing. Once services are available online, Taylor says she will be actively promoting the benefits and will probably conduct focus groups to evaluate customer satisfaction with the system.
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