Short shut for Open and Shut

If only I had the time before heading off on the high seas for two weeks, I would have said something about:

• The Open Government Guide launched by the Transparency and Accountability Initiative  during the Open Governmernt Partnership Summit in London. The guide lays out practical steps that could  be taken to improve transparency, accountability and citizen participation in 19 areas, from public services and open data to elections, environment and illicit financial flows. The Guide links to other resources - over 330 case studies and country examples, and external resources on standards. Should be particularly useful when, hopefully, not if,  we get around to discussion of a national action plan, assuming the Open Government Partnership file eventually reaches the top of the pile in Canberra.

• The statutory review of the Queensland Right to Information Act and the Information Privacy Act. Submissions closed 15 November.

•  Information about the state of the game in all those annual reports, the OAIC for one.

• The iappANZ Privacy Summit in Sydney on 25 November with former UK Information Commissioner Richard Thomas just one of the draws.

• The apparent first instance of exercise of power by the South Australian Minister for the Public Sector under section 39(9) of the FOI act in issuing an assessment of the public interest that in effect limits review of an FOI determination - a near relation to the conclusive ministerial certificate of an earlier darker era in other jurisdictions.

Be back sporadically, and more constantly around the end of the month.