Digitising government: terms and conditions apply
Over the summer, DECA set out to update the government on digital equity, starting new conversations and continuing others that have been going for years. We reached out to ministers and MPs across the house, shared our latest evidence and asked where digital inclusion fits in the current government's thinking.
We tracked who we contacted and who replied. Most did not. Those who did were mostly courteous. Courtesy, however, is not the same as engagement. The responses had a pattern: each minister pointed somewhere else. The Minister of Finance referred us to the Minister for Digitising Government. The Ministry of Education acknowledged the mahi and described existing schemes without engaging with our central questions about access, affordability or the communities who fall through the gaps those schemes create.
Hon Nicola Willis, Minister of Finance — February 2026
"As the issues you raise fall within the portfolio responsibilities of Hon Judith Collins, Minister for Digitising Government, I have referred your email to their office for their information."
DECA pushed back. Bronwyn responded to Minister Willis explaining why digital equity sits squarely within economic growth and social investment. The tech sector now contributes around $23.8 billion to GDP and supports more than 119,000 jobs. Around one in five New Zealanders experience some form of digital exclusion, limiting access to employment, skills development and economic participation. Digital exclusion, Bronwyn argued, is a material economic constraint. Greater digital capability across the workforce and small and medium enterprises has the potential to unlock billions in additional GDP through productivity gains and wider economic participation.
Digital exclusion is not a problem for one minister. When we mapped it across government, we found it relevant to more than twenty portfolios. That is before we get to the cross-cutting issues of housing, justice and ethnic communities. We will save the full breakdown for another day, but believe us, digital equity sits in the middle of every Venn diagram drawn across the house.
Eventually, a response came from Minister Collins, dated 27 February. It was the most substantive reply we received, and it was clarifying, though perhaps not in the way the Minister intended.
Hon Judith Collins, Minister for Digitising Government — February 2026
"As part of government services remaining omni-channel, online portals, mobile applications and AI-enabled interfaces will ensure people and businesses can access important government services and information, anytime and from anywhere."
Anytime and from anywhere. Really?
What about the people without smartphones or even just a home internet connection. Those living in places where 4G is a promise not a reality. No mention of literacy programmes to help people learn how to access these services. No mention of getting devices to people who cannot afford them. No mention of how any of this will actually work for people navigating complex lives or language barriers. No mention of working with communities to make sure these programmes actually work for disabled people. No mention of the one in five New Zealanders who experience some form of digital exclusion.
When it comes to the government's roadmap, the workstream enacting the Strategy for a Digital Public Service, we put it under a microscope. Version 1 named barriers. It included Zero Data expansion for people who cannot afford mobile data, library support explicitly framed around helping all New Zealanders access digital services, and a tool to reach under-served populations. Version 2 dropped all three. The language shifted too: where Version 1 spoke of people for whom digital access is a barrier, Version 2 does not name those people at all. The strategy says "we also recognise some people can't or don't want to engage online." The roadmap that is supposed to enact the Strategy has stopped saying so.
We had questions. In December 2025, DECA wrote formally to the Digital Executive Board, asking for clarity on what the roadmap means for people with the least access to digital services. We have not received a response.
Rather than wait, DECA is going to the source.
Tomorrow, we will attend the Digitising Government Conference to hear directly from the ministers, DIA officials and programme leads driving this work. We want to understand what is planned, where equity considerations sit within the programme and whether the communities we represent are visible to the people making these decisions. We will report back on what we hear.
Digital transformation is moving fast. New Zealanders deserve to understand what “Digitising Government” really means for them and to shape how it unfolds. DECA will keep showing up until that conversation happens.