Better government - via the web
July 5, 2010 – for immediate release
Australia has a rare opportunity to deepen its democracy, achieve more open government and improve public policymaking – using the best of the new tools on the internet.
Dr Nicholas Gruen, Chair of the Commonwealth Government’s ‘Government 2.0’ Task Force, says the internet can open a new era for Australian democracy and good governance if we take full advantage of the tools for communication, discussion, and collaboration it has to offer.
How the nation implements this far-reaching change – known as Government 2.0 – is the focus of a national symposium, CCI 2.0, hosted by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI) in Brisbane tomorrow, July 6.
“In the case of an emergency, we’ve already seen how the use of Twitter can help emergency services tap into local knowledge, advice and expertise in the community – but it goes much further than that,” Dr Gruen says.
“The scope is there for much deeper, more open discussion about policy changes large and small, via internet blogs and wikis, that will allow government to draw more on the expertise of the society, give society a greater ownership of policy by letting it see, understand and take part in how government reaches a decision, and allow public servants to provide more open and frank advice.”
At the moment long-standing public service and government culture still stand in the way, Dr Gruen cautions.
“There is almost a horror of letting the public in on the discussion of major new policy changes. There is still a view that the workings of government should be kept secret. And there is still a culture which discourages public servants from publicly discussing new ideas for the improvement of policy.”
“If you let people, including public servants, discuss alternatives and the respective merits or otherwise of improvements, I don’t think the skies will fall in. In fact we’d end up with a richer dialogue about what we need to do as a nation and the course we wish to take.”
In the wake of his Task Force’s report, Government 2.0 has already begun with the Australian Public Service Commission rewriting some of the rules for public servants and public engagement, Dr Gruen adds – but it remains to be seen whether the new openness will take four years or twenty to achieve.
“Now we need people to put it to the test, in order to settle the ground rules,” he says.
Also, inviting the public to comment on major new policies doesn’t mean running a plebiscite on every single government decision. “When Barack Obama tried involving the public, the greatest popular support on any issue was for the legalisation of marihuana – hardly the most urgent issue at a time of global financial crisis. Nevertheless there is scope to use the internet to tap into expertise and specialist knowledge held by the community when important policies are being worked out.”
CCI 2.0 is being held at Level 4, Z2 Block, The Glasshouse, on the Kelvin Grove Campus of the Queensland University of Technology, today July 5 and tomorrow July 6.
Presentations and discussion on Government 2.0 will take place on July 6.
The media is welcome to attend.
Another highlight of the event is a national roundtable discussion on fast broadband and its impact on Australian society and the economy, this afternoon at 4.30pm.
The ARC Centre for Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI) is helping to build a creative Australia through cutting edge research spanning the creative industries, media and communications, arts, cultural studies, law, information technology, education and business.
More information:
Dr Nick Gruen, Lateral Economics, ph 0403 077 732
Professor Stuart Cunningham, Director CCI, ph 0407 195 304,
s.cunningham@qut.edu.au
Rebekah McClure, Manager CCI, ph +61 7 3138 3889
More details and symposium program: http://www.cci.edu.au
Distributed by SciNews.com.au
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