Australia End-of-Term Report 2016-2018

The Australian government has made significant progress on implementing the commitments in its first national action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen.... Implementation led to major changes in practice in policy areas such as combating corporate crime, improving the accessibility of government-held information, and enhancing public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio... in decision making. However, the majority of commitments had generally marginal or no discernible effect on opening up government, often correlating with limited completionImplementers must follow through on their commitments for them to achieve impact. For each commitment, OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) evaluates the degree to which the activities outlin... More.

The Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More (OGP) is a voluntary international initiative that aims to secure commitments from governments to their citizenry to promote transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM)The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) is OGP’s accountability arm and the main means of tracking progress in participating countries. The IRM provides independent, evidence-based, and objective ... carries out a review of the activities of each OGP-participating country. This report summarises the results of the period July 2017 to June 2018 and includes some recent developments up to August 2018.

Responsibility for implementing the commitments in Australia’s first national action plan were spread over 12 federal and state government agencies, coordinated by the federal Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Implementation was monitored over much of the reporting period by first an interim and then permanent multi-stakeholder forumRegular dialogue between government and civil society is a core element of OGP participation. It builds trust, promotes joint problem-solving, and empowers civil society to influence the design, imple... which included members from the civil society sector.

While none of the commitments were viewed as having the potential for a transformative impact, several had a major impact on opening up government over the course of the first action plan. These include several commitments which aimed to establish expert or representative panels in advising government, most notably the establishment of the Open Government Partnership Forum to collaborate on improving Australia’s OGP commitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action.... The commitment to enhance public participation in government decision making, which is being continued in the second national action plan, has the potential to make a significant contribution to improving engagement between the government and community generally.

The Commonwealth government published a draft end-of-term self-assessment report on 3 December 2018.[i] The draft report was open for public consultation for a two-week period.

The Australian government released its second national action plan on 21 September 2018.[ii] The second national action plan includes a number of commitments which continue or slightly modify commitments in the first national action plan, including strengthening the national anti-corruption framework, making it easier to deal with the government online, and expanding open contractingA transparent procurement process, known as open contracting, increases competition, improves public service delivery, and ensures governments better value for their money. Technical specifications: C... More and due diligence in procurement. Other commitments reflect more significant changes and developments that occurred during implementation of the first national action plan, including improving the sharing, use, and reuse of public sector data, enhancing the transparency of political donations and funding, and engaging Australians in the Independent Review of the Australian Public Service.

Commitments reflecting IRM recommendations made in the mid-term progress report include enhancing state and territory participation in the Open Government Partnership. The introduction to the second national action plan indicates, however, that the Australian government is committed to completing commitments from the first national action plan and will continue to monitor and publish progress.

[i] PM&C, End of Term Self-Assessment Report for the National Action Plan 2016-18, https://ogpau.pmc.gov.au/end-term-self-assessment-report-national-action-plan-2016-18 (accessed 6/5/2019).

[ii] Senator Matthias Cormann, Media Release: Release of the second Open Government National Action Plan, https://www.financeminister.gov.au/media-release/2018/09/21/release-second-open-government-national-action-plan. The second national action plan, https://ogpau.pmc.gov.au/australias-second-open-government-national-action-plan-2018-20.