I wish to advise all activists and citizens of the Open Government Partnership National Action Plan consultation which has begun. The significance of this little-known event can not be over-stated. The National Action Plan (our country’s first) goes into implementation …

You can contribute to the Open Government National Action Plan Read more »

In an earlier post I overviewed the progress being made in improving transparency in Commonwealth grants spending, exemplified (or so I thought) by the publication of the Indigenous Advancement Strategy grants data  at the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet  website. …

We need to talk about transparency in Indigenous spending Read more »

Saturday morning marked the official launch of the #openaus hashtag, a place for ongoing discussion of financial and political transparency as it relates to open data. The chat was an opportunity to share a proposed change to the Corporations Act …

Overview of initial #openaus Twitter chat Read more »

The internet is often hailed for its promise and role played in political change. Now anyone can blog or Tweet. Social media has played a major role in democratic uprisings around the world and ending political careers domestically. Likewise, open …

Open data & open government – a new paradigm? Read more »

I have launched a site, OpenAus that focuses on political and financial transparency in Australia. Launch of my project coincides with the #choppergate scandal which has made the honesty and integrity of our politicians the focus of public discussion and …

Invite: honesty & transparency in politics chat Read more »

According to Transparency International: “Grand corruption consists of acts committed at a high level of government that distort policies or the central functioning of the state, enabling leaders to benefit at the expense of the public good. Petty corruption refers to …

Entitlements/Expenses data online, searchable and graphed Read more »

OpenAus is a new project in financial and political transparency for Australia. OpenAus relies on ‘open data’. Open data is data (usually published by governments) that is made available free for re-use for commercial or non-commercial uses. OpenAus takes financial …

OpenAus Overview & Call to Action Read more »