Comments by
Andrew Clark
Within a social Democratic State such as Australia there is a need for open government, however this fine collection of words need definition if they are to be made meaningful.
What do they mean in practice, how do you translate these into policy objectives and accountable outcome measures.
For example transparent. What does this mean, should all government polices be put on a web site within 2 working days of there sign off, all data gathered by government be placed on a web site so as determine if contracts are being me, or should cabinet papers be made public ?
In defining accessible does this mean common data standards, free information, publicly available web access, alternative formats etc
While at one level these examples are extreme they do pose the question without definition and benchmarks these will remain good intentions.
Lastly that a culture of openness and commitment to participatory and inclusive democracy should underpin this reform not just a belief in the transformative power of technology.