Government 2.0 initiative launched

[Gruden]

Last week at the Public Sphere #2 conference in Canberra, the Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Lindsay Tanner, helped launch the new Government 2.0 Taskforce.

The taskforce’s objectives are to:

• make government information more accessible and usable
• establish a pro-disclosure culture
• leverage the views, knowledge and resources of the general community
• build a culture of online innovation within Government

“Let us imagine a scenario to illustrate the point.

You are thinking of buying a house.

You go online and using mapping data you access the suburb you are thinking of moving into.

With just a few clicks you are able to access information about schools, parks, child care centres and aged care facilities in the area.

You are able to see whether crime is rising or falling in the area, how fast the local public transport services will take you to work, and how congested the roads are at 8am on a weekday morning.

With a few more clicks you are able to join an online forum about the quality of the local schools, and about the pros and cons of living in the area.

Then, after you have moved in, you are able to go online to tell your local councillor, MP or government agency that a nearby road is full of potholes and dangerous to drive on.

This scenario is not far-fetched. We are moving toward it by the day.”

- Lindsay Tanner.

Needless to say, this is an initiative that Gruden fully supports. We have worked closely with government on numerous projects and understand both the challenges and opportunities of putting public sector information online. Having a cross government body responsible for informing and empowering those at the coal face has the potential to really drive openness and interaction and we look forward to doing even more innovative work.

Further information on the taskforce, its scope and aims as well are available at http://gov2.net.au/about/.



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