The Federal Government will embrace open and accessible standards across all areas, accepting 12 of the 13 recommendations of the Government 2.0 Taskforce.
Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner and Cabinet Secretary Joe Ludwig issued the Government’s formal response yesterday to the Government 2.0 Taskforce, agreeing with or largely accepting 12 of the 13 recommendations of the Government 2.0 Taskforce report.
The Gov 2.0 taskforce was established last year by Minister Tanner and Mr Ludwig, with the goal of examining the opportunities ‘Web 2.0’ technologies opened up to Government, in particular with regards to community engagement and services delivery.
The only recommendation by the taskforce not agreed to covered tax concessions for ”information-philanthropists” not-for-profit groups set up to assist citizens in tapping into Government data. Instead a decision on this point has been delayed until the other Gov 2.0 recommendation can be brought on line and further evaluated.
“Web 2.0 technologies provide significant scope for the Government to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery, public administration and community engagement.” Said Mr Tanner.
“The Government’s response to the report prepared by the Taskforce shows we are supportive of the overwhelming majority of their recommendations and committed to progressing this agenda across government.”
In the Government’s response to the Gov 2.0 Taskforce, it was clear that cultural change was necessary in the public service to be open by default, rather than closed in their culture.
“It is incumbent on the senior APS leadership to ensure that top-down change is enabled in agencies, and that APS employees are genuinely encouraged and empowered to engage online within their agency-specific context,” the Government’s response read.
The Department of Finance and Deregulation would take the lead on the project, with a blog hosted by the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) being a central hub for discussions on the project.