Improving e-government services for non-English speaking background (NESB) communities in Australia

Australian government agencies have a natural desire to provide migrants a wide range of opportunities. Consequently, government online services should be equally available to migrants with a non-English speaking background (NESB). Despite the commendable efforts of governments and local agencies in Australia to provide such services, in reality, many NESB communities are not taking advantage of these services. This article - based on an extensive case study regarding the use of online government services by the Arabic NESB community in Australia - reports on the possible reasons for this issue, as well as suggestions for improvement. The conclusion is that Australia should implement ICT-based or e-government policies, programmes, and services that more accurately reflect migrant cultures and languages so that migrant integration can be more fully accomplished. Specifically, this article presents an NESB model that adopts the value of user centricity or a more individual-focused approach to government online services in Australia.