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Media Release  APC 19 May 2017. "The Australian Press Council has awarded its Press Freedom Medal to two outstanding individuals for their major contributions to ensuring a free and open society: Peter Timmins - Australian Open Government Partnership Network and Michael Cameron - News Corp Australia. The 2017 Press Freedom Medals were awarded at a special ceremony in Sydney on 19 May. As well as members of the Press Council, journalists and guests from a variety of organisations attended. Peter Timmins is a well-known advocate of improved standards of transparency and accountability and Australia's leading expert on Freedom of Information (FOI) policy and privacy, as well as being a leader of the Australian Open Government Partnership Network and publisher of the Open and Shut blog. Michael Cameron is the National Editorial Counsel for News Corp Australia. He leads an in-house legal team, which he established, whose members have appeared in dozens of matters involving challen...

It's been quite a journey since Australia was first invited to join the Open Government Partnership in August 2011, since the Labor Government signed on in May 2013, and since Prime Minister Turnbull revived Australia's commitment in November 2015, but... A draft Open Government National Action Plan has been released this morning by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet for public consultation. The Minister for Finance has drawn attention to the plan and invited public comment. (Administrative responsibility remains with PM&C) The draft Plan can be accessed/downloaded here: PDF:  Australia’s first Open Government National Action Plan DOCX:  Australia’s first Open Government National Action Plan HTML: Australia’s first Open Government National Action Plan As the minister states, the draft was developed through a consultation process that began in December 2015 and was informed by an interim working group established in August 2016.  The extent of 'ambition' i...

Right to Know Day 28 September- great to see traffic on the twitter feeds including plenty from Australia at #RighttoKnow While observance has been trending in the right direction in recent years, its another step in the right direction given Right to Know Day often passed virtually unnoticed here. Something positive from the highest levels of government on the importance of the right to know would be a welcome development but alas.. So too, with three ministers in New York last week, an Australian presence at the Fifth Anniversary Celebration of the Open Government Partnership would have indicated strong interest and commitment as well. Alas again.... Further rain amid the sunshine:  The Center for Law and Democracy in Toronto and Access Info Europe used the occasion to publish an updated Global Right to Information Rating, analysing the quality of the world's access to information laws. The Australian legislative framework (the Federal Freedom of Information Act) comes in 56 of...

With the Federal Government on the receiving end for 'doing nothing' on a range of pressing issues and three sitting days before Parliament rises until the Budget in May, will Attorney General Brandis stick with doing nothing, pull the bill to abolish the Office of Australian Information Commissioner from the Senate or call it on for a vote that he knows the government can't win? Doing nothing speaks for itself - a discouraging, dispiriting message for those still looking for signs of real interest in 'good government' an d recognition that transparency, accountability and public participation are a big part of the mix. Withdrawal of the bill would indicate serious intent regarding the Prime Minister's commitment to join and participate-'play a leading role' no less- in the Open Government Partnership.  Arguing in the Senate in a futile attempt to convince Labor, the Greens and the crossbench senators to support abolishing the watchdog / advoc...

Quentin Dempster in The Saturday Paper   The case for a federal ICAC is compelling. With highly skilled forensic accountants, metadata analysts and IT specialists; phone tap, covert surveillance and search warrant powers to gather evidence; and the power to compel attendance at preliminary in-camera interrogation, a federal commission against corruption could start to correct the myth that there is little or no corruption at the Commonwealth level.... .. Resistance to a federal corruption commission is expected to be intense from within the political parties and the Murdoch press because, as in NSW, its very existence would confront Australia’s corruptible and influence-peddling political and commercial cultures. Examples of corruption will be fobbed off as “just a few bad apples”. As in NSW, such an investigative body will be likened to a “star chamber” or a Russian show trial. But the need and the benefits are manifest..... The NSW ICAC, with a budget of $25 million, as...

The Human Rights Law Center Report Safeguarding Democracy released yesterday  "documents how federal and state governments are adopting new laws and practices that undermine critical components of Australia’s democracy like press freedom, the rule of law, protest rights, NGO advocacy and courts and other institutions. It outlines 38 recommendations to stop the erosion and strengthen our democracy." Is democracy important to you? Are you up for the cause of strengthening and improving democratic practices ?   J oin the like-minded as discussion gets underway about open, transparent government, public integrity, citizen engagement and related topics in the context of development of Australia's Open Government Partnership National Action Plan. Lots of room for your thoughts, ideas, suggestions and observations.  Join the Open Government Partnership Network , or tell the Prime Minister's department directly what you think. 

Important to you? J oin the like-minded as discussion gets underway about public integrity and related topics in the context of develop ment of Australia's Open Government Partnership National Action Plan. Lots of room for your thoughts, ideas, suggestions and observations.  Join the Open Government Partnership Network , or tell the Prime Minister's department directly what you think.  A selection below f rom media commentary in the last few days prompted by the Stuart Robert scandal - following years of deaf ears to calls for reform .  Lenore Taylor (Guardian Australia) on Q&A I think these scandals come and they go, the person resigns if there is enough political pressure but the only thing that will change the system is if we change donation laws and change the relationship between politicians and big money. Katherine Murphy (Guardian Australia) and Mark Riley (Seven Network) on ABC Insiders (at 37 minutes) , in summary: the conduct of the minister in the ...

Following the ministerial reshuffle on Saturday, Angus T aylor is Assistant Minister to the Prime M inister for Cities and Digital Transition . O n digital government, he replac es Communications Minister Mit c h Fifield appointed last September.  Mr T aylor's T witter a ccount states " Rhodes scholar. Business consulting and agriculture background @ mckinsey and Port Jackson Partners. Passionate about good government" So roll out the red carpet as d iscussion gets underway about access to information, public data, public integrity, use of technology, better services and public resources, in the context of developing Australia's Open Government Partnership N ational Action P lan. Lots o f roo m for your thoughts, ideas, suggestions and observations. J oin the Open Government Partnership Network , or tell the Prime Minister's d epartment directly what you think. On access to government data, below t wo reports about opportunities for giant steps ...

"Transparency International Australia is calling on the Australian government to address critical deficiencies in Australia’s anti-corruption laws , as the country falls further on the international Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for the third year in a row.   Today it was revealed that world-wide perceptions of the level of corruption in Australia’s government sector continue to worsen, with Australia’s CPI score falling to 79, down from 85 in 2012, 81 in 2013 and 80 in 2014. Australia is now ranked 13 th out of the 168 countries included in the Index – down six positions since 2012, and joining countries like Libya, Brazil, Spain and Turkey as big decliners over that period. The annual Index compiled by Transparency International uses 12 surveys of expert assessment and views of business people globally. The highest ranked country is Denmark with a score of 91. TI Australia’s incoming chairman The Hon. Anthony Whealy QC described the continued slide as “the res...

2016 should tell! Judith Sloan writing in The Australian includes Australia's commitment to the OGP in her list of contenders for Twaddle of the Year 2015, along with the innovation statement: My favourite part of the innovation statement is the bit about government as exemplar, an example of twaddle-speak itself. But let me turn to the master: “Right across the board you will see there are measures to ensure that government is digitally transformed, so that it is nimble, so that you can deal with government as easily as you can with eBay or with one of the big financial institutions.” And just to give substance to this government as exemplar gig, you will be pleased to know that “Prime Minister Turnbull has committed the Australian government to membership of the Open Government Partnership and public consultation was launched to develop the National Action Plan for open government. The Open Government Partnership is a voluntary, multi-stakeholder international initiat...

I'd like to think Paul Farrell in The Guardian and others on social media are right that additional funding for the Office of Australian Information Commissioner in the Mid Year budget update for "Enhanced Welfare Payment Integrity — non-employment income data matching" until 2019 may signal the end of the long drawn out unsuccessful government attempt to close the office.  The funds are earmarked for the privacy functions of the office.  The Budget in May included funding for privacy functions and (reduced) funding for FOI functions in 2015-16 but nothing in forward estimates for the three years to follow.  The government plan is to scatter some functions around including packing the Privacy Commissioner off to the Australian Human Rights Commission if/when the abolition bill passes the Senate. The FOI oversight and review functions would be scrapped. However another budget document revealed $4.2 million was allocated in the Budget over four years for the Privacy ...

The Australian Open Government Partnership Network has a Landing Page if you are interested in linking up with other civic minded democracy supporters and reformers. Help spread the word. A website and online Forum soon we hope. The network is an independent coalition of individuals and organisations formed for the purpose of engaging with government in the development of Australia's OGP National Action Plan. The network will provide a forum for the exchange of information and ideas on areas for reform, seek to ensure the action plan is developed in the true spirit of partnership, and work to assist government in the determination of priorities for consideration. A member of the Network Steering Committee and Co-founder of OpenAustralia Foundation Katherine (Kat) Szuminska has been invited to the annual civil society peer exchange meeting in The Hague, Netherlands in January for civil society leaders that are pivotal OGP actors at home.     The Government run informatio...

Network of civic citizens to engage on open government   A national coalition of organisations and individuals is gearing up to respond to the Federal Government’s invitation to engage on issues concerning how to make government work better, focusing on transparency, open government, citizen participation and technological innovation. The government has unveiled plans for wide ranging consultation over the next six months in the course of development of a National Action Plan to complete membership requirements of the Open Government Partnership. Information sessions are scheduled this week in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. http://ogpau.govspace.gov.au/ register-to-attend-an-ogp- australia-information-session/ Australia announced the intention to join the partnership in May 2013 but had not progressed the application until the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet last month released details of steps to finalise membership by July 2016. This requires developmen...