faulker03

Dear Neglected Reader, I've been otherwise occupied for large chunks of this year in my role as interim Convener of the Australian Open Government Partnership Network. Postings in this our tenth year suffered I'm afraid.   Loads of things I planned to bring to your attention... but alas, 140 characters was sometimes the best I could manage. (Follow @FOIguru) The good news is that after a a bumpy, frequently interrupted less than perfect process, Australia now has a national action plan with 15 commitments that constitute a broad program of reforms.  Some of those commitments will be of particular interest to you: 1.3 Extractive industries transparency Australia will enhance disclosure of company payments and government revenues from the oil, gas and mining sectors. We will do this by implementing the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Standard (including working to enhance company disclosure of payments to governments for the sale of petroleum and minerals...

The Sydney Morning Herald on the mysterious $20 million fire at Liverpool City Council (NSW) that according to staff at the time destroyed 8905 files. Councillors were unconvinced of the report's accuracy and scope and ordered a new investigation in response to queries from residents. "A more professional investigation last year found that only 624 hard copy files, many of them dating back decades or more and of limited contemporary use, had been lost in the fire," a spokesman for the council said.

Enjoyed episodes of the marvellous Yes Minister series over the break, including The Skeleton in the Cupboard where Sir Humphrey is anxious to avoid disclosure of his involvement as a junior official thirty years before in a monumental stuff up. As the file is now due for open access the Minister asks: How am I going to explain the missing documents to "The Mail"? Sir Humphrey Appleby : Well, this is what we normally do in circumstances like these. James Hacker : [ reads memo ] This file contains the complete set of papers, except for a number of secret documents, a few others which are part of still active files, some correspondence lost in the floods of 1967... James Hacker : Was 1967 a particularly bad winter? Sir Humphrey Appleby : No, a marvellous winter. We lost no end of embarrassing files. James Hacker : [ reads ] Some records which went astray in the move to London and others when the War Office was incorporated in the Ministry of Defence, and the normal wi...