Australia confronts challenges on a number of fronts – economic stability and growth, health, education, social security, water security and climate change are contemporary examples. The complexity of these challenges demands whole-of-government responses. Building on many years of experience in the successful deployment of spatial technology in government agencies, the States and the Federal government are today at various stages of adoption of whole-of-government spatial solutions. Some governments overseas are following a similar path. These whole-of-government spatial solutions are being referred to, in some quarters, as spatially enabling government (SEG), however, the concept is still evolving. This paper discusses the SEG concept and presents a methodology for investigating the state of a government's enablement based on reviews of activities in Australia and selected overseas countries.