Victoria commits to action on Gov 2.0

While Victoria lags on freedom of Information reform, it seems to be moving ahead of the other states on Gov 2.0 - someone needs to connect some dots here - releasing last week an Action Plan to focus on four priority action areas: Leadership, Participation, Transparency and Performance. There are 14 initiatives aimed at engaging and empowering citizens, making government more transparent and improving government capability, including a commitment to develop a comprehensive Information Management Framework for sharing public sector information. "The framework will be developed in parallel to making as much public data open and accessible as quickly as possible."

Craig Thomler at e Gov AU says:

In my view, Victoria's Gov 2.0 Action Plan is an example of best practice in how to prepare to systematically embed Government 2.0 techniques and tools into a government, taking the necessary steps to reform public sector culture, build capability, engage proactively and innovate iteratively to deliver the best outcomes for citizens. I believe that the effective execution of this Action Plan, ahead of Gov 2.0 efforts in other states, will give Victoria a substantial first-mover economic advantage, positioning the state as more innovative and better equipped to service citizens and businesses in the 21st Century.

That culture change issue referred to by the Ombudsman, a modern FOI law, and a lift in practice also need to be factored in there somewhere.