23rd November 2016
Further in the series- Issues raised in Submissions on Draft National Action Plan Issues raised include the need for a stronger commitment, how this commitment fits with the proposed sale/privatisation of management of the ASIC register, why access to information should be limited to ‘competent aurthorities’ and whether legal entities other than corporations should be…
23rd November 2016
The published submissions on the Draft National Action Plan for Consultation: Draft Commitment 1.1 Improve whistle-blower protections in the tax and corporate sectors ( This commitment covers a moving target- the government in the early hours of yesterday morning agreed to act on broader whistleblower protections – action advocated in submissions on this draft commitment.…
23rd November 2016
Overall the 63 published submissions lodged in response to the Draft Action Plan released for public comment on 31 October are positive in support of the breadth and scope of the draft commitments. Some submissions are critical of the process particularly the public engagement and consultation stages. Some propose new commitments that at this late…
3rd November 2016
Still time to get to information sessions on the draft plan in Sydney and Perth tomorrow (Friday) and Canberra on Monday-details below. The event being held in Brisbane tonight (5.30-7.30) in conjunction with the OGP public information session, Extracting strategic advantage from public data sources, will be live streamed. The link is http://www.ustream.tv/channel/UMFy6MV6PhJ Please RSVP…
1st November 2016
Please take advantage of the opportunity…. Public information sessions on the draft plan released by Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet yesterday will be hosted jointly by government and civil society representatives at selected locations around the country over the next week. The focus is on the details of the proposed commitments in the Plan…
24th October 2016
From the international OGP Support Unit: Deadline: 7th November 2016 At the heart of the Open Government Partnership is collaboration between government and civil society. This is reflected in the membership of the OGP’s Steering Committee and the requirement that country National Action Plans are developed in partnership between government and civil society. In February,…
11th October 2016
From Toby Mendel, chair of the Steering Committee for FOI Advocates Network, a consortium of activists to which I and others in Australia belong: “As many of you know, the (Sustainable Development Goals) SDGs have been adopted and SDG Target 16.10 is as follows: “Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with…
4th October 2016
On the eve of the International Open Data Conference in Spain this week a reminder in this article of the inter-dependence of open data and access to information rights: The Right to Know is the plumbing underneath what has become an ecosystem focused on open government and open data, but it often gets forgotten. The…
4th October 2016
From December 7-9, 2016, France will host the Open Government Partnership Global Summit in Paris. More than 3,000 attendees from the open government community are expected including heads of state, ministers from the 70 member countries, 15 subnational governments, academia, civil society, press, multilateral organisations and other thought-leaders. The Network has been urging Department of…
28th September 2016
Stephen Easton in The Mandarin: Crunch time for Australia’s open government plan “A draft national action plan that will articulate how the Australian government promises to promote open government should finally emerge in the next couple of weeks, ahead of a very tight public consultation period.The finished draft is set to go to Cabinet for…