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Government Website Design That Everyone Can Use

For many people, your website is the first place they go for a service. We design and build accessible, plain-language government sites that people can use, search engines can rank and AI can read.

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Government Web Design

What Is Government Website Design?

Government website design is planning and building public sector sites around people’s tasks, with accessibility, plain language and search built in.

A good one helps people finish the task online, first time.

How People Use a Government Website

Most visitors arrive with one task and little time.

  1. 01

    Arrive From Search

    Many land on an inner page from Google or an AI answer, so every page has to stand on its own.

  2. 02

    Look for the Task

    They scan headings and links for the one thing they came to do.

  3. 03

    Need It to Work for Them

    Screen readers, zoom, slow connections and other languages all have to work.

  4. 04

    Finish or Call

    If they can’t finish online, they phone or visit a service centre instead.

852,706Australians don’t speak English well or at allABS Census, 2021
1 Jan 2026Inclusion Standard extended to existing Commonwealth public-facing servicesDTA, 2026

What Actually Moves Website Results for Government

  • Task-First Navigation

    Organise menus around what people do, such as pay, apply, report and book, and keep the org chart for the About section.

  • WCAG 2.2 AA From Day One

    The Australian Human Rights Commission says organisations should meet WCAG 2.2 at a minimum of Level AA. Design every component to it from the first wireframe.

  • Style Manual Content

    The Digital Service Standard points agencies to the Australian Government Style Manual and its plain language guidance. Write every page to it.

  • Forms People Finish

    Short, accessible forms with clear error messages and save-and-return help people finish online instead of calling.

  • Fast on Any Connection

    Light pages that load quickly on older phones and regional connections, tested on real devices before launch.

  • Built for Search and AI

    Clean headings, schema and crawlable pages, so Google and AI assistants find and quote the official answer.

WCAG 2.2 AA and the Digital Experience Policy

Public sites are judged against published standards. We design to them from the first wireframe.

01

WCAG 2.2 Level AA

AHRC guidance says organisations should conform with WCAG 2.2 at a minimum of Level AA. We test templates with automated tools and by hand.

02

Digital Experience Policy

Mandatory for in-scope Commonwealth digital services since 1 January 2025, with four standards covering service, inclusion, access and performance.

03

State and Council Sites

The policy doesn’t apply to state or territory services, but the DTA encourages agencies outside its scope to adopt it. We use it as our benchmark.

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Meet the People Behind Your Government Website

Our designers, developers and SEO team work from one brief, so accessibility, content and search are built in from the first wireframe.

Why Website Design Matters for Government Now

72 %

of Australians have disability, up from 17.7% in 2018 (ABS, 2024)

11 AA

WCAG 2.2 Level AA is the minimum the Australian Human Rights Commission recommends (AHRC, 2025)

8 %

of Google AI Mode citations in our study were government pages (Uprise research, 2026)

Template Site vs Built for Government

Template Site

Built for Government

A template can suit a small board or committee site. Service-heavy agencies and councils need a site built for the job.

How We Design Government Websites

Four stages, each with a sign-off point that suits your governance.

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1

Discovery and User Research

We review analytics, search data and common call reasons, then talk to users to find the tasks that matter most.

2

Content and Structure

We map tasks, rewrite priority content in plain English and plan redirects so existing rankings carry over.

3

Accessible Design and Build

We design components to WCAG 2.2 AA, build on a CMS your team can run, and test with assistive technology.

4

Launch and Improve

We launch with redirects and monitoring in place, then track performance and fix issues in the months after.

Web Design for Government Pricing

From $4,500

What’s included

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Web Design for Government Questions, Answered

What accessibility standard should a government website meet?

The Australian Human Rights Commission’s 2025 guidelines say organisations should conform with WCAG 2.2 at a minimum of Level AA. The DTA’s Digital Service Standard asks for the latest version of WCAG, which is 2.2.

Does the Digital Experience Policy apply to councils?

It applies to in-scope Commonwealth digital services. It doesn’t apply to state or territory services, though the DTA encourages agencies outside its scope to adopt the standards. We use them as the benchmark on every public sector build.

Which CMS do you build on?

We are WordPress and Webflow partners, and we pick the platform your team can run and secure. If your agency has a mandated CMS, tell us and we will scope around it.

Will we lose search rankings in a rebuild?

A planned migration protects them. We map every old URL to its new home, set redirects before launch and monitor rankings and errors closely afterwards.

How do you test accessibility?

We run automated checks on every template, then test by hand with keyboard-only navigation and screen readers. You get a report of what was tested and what was fixed.

How much does a government website cost?

Custom sites start from $4,500. Most government sites have more pages, forms and integrations than that covers, so we quote on scope after discovery.

Can you work within our procurement process?

Yes. Tell us how your agency buys and we will quote against your brief. Commonwealth ICT services are often bought through BuyICT’s Digital Marketplace Panel 2, which covers ICT labour hire and professional and consulting services.

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