New Zealand government launches all-of-government updated website

New Zealanders will now have easier, simpler access to government services with the launch of an updated cross-government website, as announced by Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne:

"www.govt.nz is a revolutionary breakthrough in the way the public connects with government information and services bacause it is designed from the outside-in - it is based on real New Zealanders' experience and feedback."

Development of www.govt.nz was influenced by a similar site developed in the UK, www.gov.uk, which has proved wildly successful with UK users.

A local team of developers worked together with user-experience experts from consulting firm Optimal Experience (now part of PwC) to fork the open-source www.gov.uk platform and make it work for a New Zealand-based audience.

"Changing the way citizens interact with government - and the ICT transformation needed to achieve this - represent the biggest reforms since the 1980s." said Mr Dunne.

Prime Minister John Key was present at the launch, which happened at the National Library of New Zealand, in Wellington.