Australia’s National Action Plan-Done and Dusted
Australia’s first Open Government Partnership National Action Plan was released yesterday.
In a Media Statement, Minister for Finance Senator Cormann said
The Plan’s 15 commitments will help strengthen our democracy and deliver a more agile, innovative and collaborative nation.
We will:
- deliver better protections for whistle blowers in the tax and corporate sectors,
- work with people outside of government to release more high-value data,
- consult on reforms to our information access laws,
- strengthen our national integrity and anti-corruption framework, and
- implement new initiatives to improve government engagement with the community.
The finalisation of the Plan comes a year after the announcement by Prime Minister Turnbull that recommitted Australia to OGP membership.
This after two lost years when the Abbott government endlessly considered and reconsidered whether to follow or reverse the Labor government decision to join in May 2013.
The development of the plan took far longer than anticipated, impacted by the two month election campaign and other delays primarily caused by government processes.
Not enough was done to raise public awareness about the opportunity to participate, there was little (mostly none) ministerial engagement with those of us outside government, and a fair bit of caution on the part of the public service. There were and remain still to be resolved issues about ‘partnership’ and ‘co-creation.
On this last point the reality is the plan is the government’s plan, informed by consultation ( tight timelines, limited in other respects) and by the work of the Interim Working Group established by PM&C in August 2016.
Notwithstanding, the final product is better than what has gone before and much better than what government had in mind when the process commenced in November last year.
The breadth and scope of commitments is commendable.
There are now 15 not 14 commitments with the addition of 1.4 Combating Corporate Crime.
Some important points raised during the final round of consultation have been taken on board.
For example there is greater clarity about the precise nature of each commitment. Most are now framed as statements that “Australia will…..”
Milestones- the action steps to be taken-in most instances now set out a more logical path towards achievement of each commitment.
There has been a disappointing failure in some instances to pick up on consultation inputs.
The text in places is still too self congratulatory- for example citing Australia’s ranking in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index as a positive without mentioning it has dropped in recent times, and not acknowledging the dark period for Freedom of Information when the government sought to abolish the watchdog the OAIC only to change its mind but still not fully fund and restore its capacity to carry out all its functions.
As suggested in consultation comments it would have been wise to avoid overegging the current situation in the interests of presenting a credible realistic picture of the state of affairs.
These comments on selected commitments are first thoughts:
1.1 Whistleblower Protection
Big step forward in embracing change in protections for those who report corporate wrong doing-to catch up with the deal done on the subject with Senators Xenophon and Hinch in the final week of Parliament
1.2 Beneficial Ownership
Good as far as it goes- but remains limited to more information for ‘relevant authorities’ thus apparently ruling out any prospect of some additional information being publicly available.
2.2 Public Trust-Data Sharing
Increased recognition of the need to address public concerns.
3.1 Information management and access laws for the 21st Century
Better Milestones now to take this forward. Still skewed towards developing a ‘modern framework’ for the digital age. The extent to which this will encompass a comprehensive review of the law and the way it is currently implemented still has an element of uncertainty. In this commitment and 3.3 there is welcome recognition of the need to address information governance issues.
4.1 Electoral system and political parties
A disappointing failure to act on inputs that advocated a stronger commitment to action on political donations.
4.2 National Integrity Framework
The commitment itself sounds fine – “Australia will strengthen its ability to prevent, detect and respond to corruption in the public sector’-but nothing specific about filling the gap in the system, a national anti-corruption commission. Maybe the possibility is slightly alive if that emerges as a recommendation from a proposed Government-Business Anti Corruption Roundtable. This commitment is sure to be criticised for limited ambition.
4.3 Open Contracting
Better than it was in draft form, with something more definite now about the Open Contracting Data Standard.
5.1 Delivery of the Plan
A solid commitment to dialogue with civil society about how best to manage the partnership from here on, and to establish a multi stakeholder forum by March 2017.
5.2 Public participation in government decision making
New more inclusive framework for how government goes about this could be truly transformative.
Overall you, we, us, always mindful of ‘could do better’, should be pleased with this first crack at a plan of this kind.
Feedback on the basis of the draft plan to Network and Interim Working Group member Dr Ken Coghill in Paris at the OGP Summit is we seem to have done better than most first time round.
Minister Cormann is participating today in Paris in this Ministerial Roundtable
Special thanks to
- Prime Minister Turnbull for retrieving the OGP file from a black hole;
- Network members for your participation (few gave it more than Tim Smith QC, Chair, Accountability Roundtable), but a reminder this is the beginning not the end as we gear up to hold government to its commitments;
- Network Steering Committee members Dr David Solomon, Kat Szuminska, Phil Newman, Johan Lidberg, Craig Thomler, Jon Lawrence and Dr Nicholas Gruen who have all put shoulder to the wheel;
- Colleagues with me on the Interim Working Group, Fiona McLeod SC (Co Chair), Kat Szuminska, Dr Ken Coghill, Mark Zirnsak and Maree Adshead, and the public servants involved;
- Shreya Basu from the OGP Support Unit based in Singapore; and
- the Prime Minister and Cabinet team past (Pia Waugh, Toby Bellwood) and more recent (Dr Steven Kennedy, Luke Yeaman, Helen Owens, and in the thick of it all, Ryan Black, Naomi Perdomo and Caroline Yuan.)
We now have a first NAP that is substantially better than that first imagined over 12 months ago. There is no doubt that the efforts of Civil Society through the OGP Network and the Interim Working Group, greatly contributed to this stronger, broader and pointier plan.
I’d like to particularly acknowledge Peter Timmins. He has truly been our rock throughout this process, dedicating a lot of time, energy and wisdom to the process and making several interventions to the government at various levels throughout. Peter – we’re fortunate to have had you at the helm.
It now remains for civil society to monitor, evaluate and partner-up with government and other stakeholders in the delivery of this plan. Furthermore, we need to prepare in advance for the second plan and use this period of delivery to highlight some of the glaring gaps that remain – including the need to focus on the sub-national (State & Local Government) into the future.
Finally, it’s now time for our fledgling OGP Network Steering Committee to formalise its structure somewhat and introduce a governance framework that is more inclusive and reflective of the diversity of non-government actors who wish to join the open government cause. We need to do this while still retaining agility, responsiveness and a mature partnership approach that will work with government and do more than criticise. My sense is that Government is ready to partner with civil society and has demonstrated the will to do so, particularly over the last six months. Transparency International Australia stands ready to play our part in reforming the Network Steering Committee and is prepared to facilitate the process if called upon to do so.
Open Government is a journey that will take some years and any number of iterations – we need to be up for that ride. We need to understand it’s not a perfect process – mainly because it is led by imperfect people who will not always agree on what is right and who will frequently get it wrong.
My hope is that, collectively, we will join with government to make the most of this opportunity to be a positive influence on change. That’s how we can see real change happen.
Thank you Peter and the people Peter highlights for their public service so far.
Thanks Peter, and a good step forward for all. It is wonderful to see progress that has been some time in the making. Congrats to all who contributed to getting here and may we all stay engaged in taking it forward. Openness is a foundation for a strong, resilient and sustainabile society built on integrity.