Abstract
This paper has two principal objectives: to provide an account of the nature and extent of e-government in Australia at the three levels of government and to examine some of the major obstacles to the realization of the potential of e-government. Drawing on the published record and a benchmark survey of Australian public managers, it is apparent that, in Australia, the implementation of e-government is still largely focused at the information only level and that its spread is uneven, particularly in rural and remote areas. Furthermore, the increasing popularity of portals is paradoxical, with a proliferation of portals at each level of government, rather than a single point of entry. More significantly, there is little evidence of progress toward the ideal of joined up government.