Hallelujah:Australia to join the Open Government Partnership

Not that I expected my post an hour or so ago would see the silence broken immediately but Attorney General' Dreyfus made this announcement this morning. He deserves congratulations on getting this up and over the line.

Thanks and appreciation also to those who helped push this along, particularly Senator John Faulkner and Senator Lee Rhiannon whose questions and concerns ensured this couldn't stay in the pending basket indefinitely. Although it seemed like it at times over the last 21 months since this first post on the subject.

The Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus QC, announced today that Australia will join the Open Government Partnership. The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation that promotes transparency in government, encourages citizen participation and tackles corruption.
”Australia shares the values of the Open Government Partnership and we have a wealth of knowledge and experience to share with other nations in the partnership,” Mr Dreyfus said. 
“We believe that greater openness and accountability in government promotes public participation in government processes and leads to better informed decision-making.
The Open Government Partnership provides an international forum for countries, civil society and the private sector to stand together to address the challenges of governance in the 21st century.....  
“The Government will start work on a National Action Plan to build on our existing commitments to open and transparent government,” Mr Dreyfus said.
“The Plan will address one of the Open Government Partnership challenges of improving public services, increasing public integrity, effectively managing public resources, creating safer communities and increasing corporate accountability.
“Membership of the Open Government Partnership will complement Australia’s leadership internationally in promoting democracy, transparency and good governance,” Mr Dreyfus said.
“It will also assist Australia to spread the values of transparency and accountability in our region.”

Civil society should share a celebratory drink at the EITI conference in the next few days and then gear up for serious partnering on OGP related activity.

Links:
OAIC  
Craig Thomler eGov AU
zdnet
AGIMO Blog
Malaysia- Bernama 
US freedominfo.org