James Riley
Monday, 19 July 2010 00:30
IT Policy -
Government Tech Policy
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The Federal Government has taken a further step toward adopting a more open and collaborative culture based on Web 2.0-style tools, with Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner issuing a Declaration of Open Government on behalf the Commonwealth that serves as a blueprint for ongoing Gov 2.0 development.
But the Declaration appears a slightly watered down version of what the Gov 2.0 Taskforce recommended late last year. And senior as Mr Tanner is inside the Gillard Government, the Taskforce had always envisaged that the declaration would come from the top, the Prime Minister office.
The Declaration of Open Government is similar to the o-called Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government in the United States – a document that has collaboration and access to information at its heart – that was issued personally by President Obama.
The Labor leadership spill and the timing of the announcement on Saturday of the looming Federal election may have interfered with Prime Minister Julia Gillard making the declaration personally.
But the Gov 2.0 Taskforce' view had always been that the cultural change within the public service that was required to successfully implement 2.0 challenges must flow from the top to be effective.
The wording of the central theme of the policy – improving access to public information – seems more equivocal in the declaration than the stronger wording of the Taskforce recommendations.
The Declaration says under a general heading 'Informing' of "strengthening citizen's rights of access to information, establishing a pro-disclosure culture across Australian Government agencies."
But the Taskforce made clear in its final report that information collected by and for the public sector was a national resource – that is, owned by taxpayers – and should be managed for public purposes.
