Open government

The Office of Australian Information Commissioner is hosting a blog from 8 February to discuss draft principles and issues concerning open government information. Before leaving Australia I said the Commissioner's issues paper setting out ten draft principles  sounded pretty good to me. But not only should every agency have a senior information champion, the agency should have a plan on what it will do to promote and achieve more open access to information. And the Commissioner should establish how performance will be measured.

I'm in Florida at the moment, regarded by some who know as the best US jurisdiction when it comes to open government under Governor Charlie Crist who stood down last November but with an element of uncertainty about how things will go in the new regime headed by Rick Scott. They put Illinois and Massachusetts at the other end of the scale. And the Obama administration is said to talk a good game but results are slow in coming.