MEDIA STATEMENT

For immediate use

Monday 14 June 1999

Prime Minister Announces New Government E-Mail Service

Prime Minister Jenny Shipley today announced the launch of a new government service which will allow New Zealanders to receive press releases and speeches from Ministers within seconds of their release.

"I strongly support New Zealand's traditions of good open Government and this is another initiative which will allow any interested New Zealander instant access to decisions and announcements by the Government" Prime Minister Jenny Shipley said today.

"We have added a facility onto the Executive Government Website where people can just enter their e-mail address in and choose which announcements they wish to receive, and they will automatically start to receive by e-mail any future releases and speeches from appropriate Ministers.

"While we will continue to also place all our announcements on our website, this initiative means that people do not have to keep coming back to check if there are additional announcements of interest to them - they will just receive them automatically.

"Technologies such as the Internet are part of an information revolution which is changing the world in many ways. I am pleased that the Government is playing its part to use these new technologies to benefit New Zealanders," said Mrs Shipley.

The Executive Government Website is at www.executive.govt.nz. It contains biographies of all Ministers, an archive of press releases and speeches, details of Government policies and various topical reports as well as the new e-mail subscription service.

ENDS

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