Over the last few weeks we’ve seen several prime examples of individuals being judged and convicted by comments they made at some point in the past. Most would now be aware of the leaked tape of Donald Trump and Billy Bush, whose ‘locker room talk’ recorded in 2005 has led to an exodus of support…
This morning the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C), through its ogpau.govspace.gov.au site, put out a call for stakeholders to express their interest in joining an Interim Working Group to help co-draft Australia’s National Action Plan (NAP) for the Open Government Partnership (OGP). The approach that PM&C confirmed this morning is a very innovative and…
I think it is now safe to say that, technically at least, #CensusFail has peaked, with the ABS and IBM successfully restoring most access for the Census 2016 site. While there are still scattered reports of failures, not recognizing JavaScript is turned on, issues in some browsers and variable levels of access for people with…
Next week Australia will be holding its 17th national census (since 1911), led by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which is itself celebrating its 110th anniversary as an agency (albeit with a name change midway). This is an auspicious occasion for another reason. While it has been possible to complete the census online in both…
The weekend just past featured the 6th GovHack event, involving over 2,000 participants in 280 teams across 41 locations in Australia and New Zealand working on 439 registered projects. Effectively the world’s biggest government hackathon, GovHack includes some amazing ideas on how to solve public challenges, using open data from agencies in innovative ways. Whether…
Last year Justin Trudeau, now Prime Minister of Canada, broadcast the launch of his campaign using Facebook Live, and livestreamed his party’s launch event. Also last year UK political parties made extensive use of Facebook for live online Q&A sessions, speeches and debates. Now it is Australia’s turn, with Malcolm Turnbull announcing today (and Bill…
This week several of Australia’s highest ranking public servants, including the Secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the head of the Australian Public Service Commission, publicly endorsed the position that Australia’s current Freedom of Information laws were restricting public servants from providing frank and fearless advice to government. To put this in context, the…
Across April I’m spending a week participating in government-run sessions to contribute to the democratic life of our nation. I’ll spend two days with CSIRO, supporting their startup commercialisation programs, a day with the NSW Department of Transport supporting their deliberations on future transport needs and policies and a day with the Department of Prime…
The Australian government is again looking to reshape its entire digital presence, through creating a single .gov.au site that will somehow negate the need for people to understand how government works in order to engage with it effectively. Created by the Digital Transformation Office, you can visit the Alpha, and comment on it at www.gov.au/alpha/…
In a little over two weeks it’ll be time again for UnConference Canberra, the renamed, brighter & shinier version of BarCamp Canberra. Being held on Saturday 9 April at the Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN) on level 5 of 1 Moore Street, the event will feature the same great mix of people, presentations and cupcakes. It…
This archive mirrors the original eGov AU blog — Craig’s professional commentary on AI, digital government and technology in public life, running since 2006.
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