Australians would rather use the Internet to interact with government than walk into a department office, according to a new report.
Surprisingly, older Australians between 55 to 64 years old are the most frequent users of the Internet as a means to contact government.
The Interacting with Government report 2009, released by Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner, found record numbers of people are going online to deal with government.
Tanner said in-person contact was the most common form of government interaction five years ago.
“This major shift shows how important it is for the government to keep pace with technological change and evolve the delivery of services to meet the demands of citizens,” Tanner said in a statement.
“Citizen-centric delivery of government services is evolving. That is why the government has been moving forward with initiatives like the Government 2.0 Taskforce and redeveloping the australia.gov.au website.”
Tanner said the report can be used to improve government online services.
The most common cause of dissatisfaction in government services according to the 2008 version of the report was the length of time taken to receive a reply, typically via telephone.