Getting on with Government 2.0 - Department of Finance and ...

1. A Government 2.0 lead agency should be appointed as the central and accountable
focus at a whole of government level to drive the implementation of the taskforce
recommendations. The lead agency should maintain a longer term commitment to the
wider Government 2.0 agenda across the Australian Government.
2. The lead agency should itself reflect and reinforce the practices, habits and tools of
Government 2.0 and so, model the principles of openness, engagement and collaboration.
3. The lead agency should ensure that the Government 2.0 agenda is part of the government’s
larger ambitions for public sector reform and public innovation. This reflects the taskforce’s
view that the Government 2.0 agenda is an integral part of systemic changes to the culture
and practice of public policy and governance, the next step in a long evolution towards a
more responsive and citizen centric public sector.
3.5.1 The case for a lead agency
Current responsibility for functions associated with Government 2.0 practices are fragmented
across agencies in the APS. Table 1 below sets out some (although not all) of these agencies.
Table 1: Government 2.0 — entities, roles and responsibilities 128
Agencies/entities
Roles
Policy/resource
allocation
Program
delivery
Advice/
advocacy
Audit/public
reporting/other
Government 2.0 Taskforce Yes — time limited No Yes — time limited No
Proposed Office of the
Information Commissioner
Department of Finance
and Deregulation/AGIMO
Department of the Prime
Minister and Cabinet
Public Service
Commissioner
National Archives
of Australia
Line departments
and agencies
Administrative Appeals
Tribunal (AAT)
Yes No Yes — to agencies
and the public
Yes — on ICT
architecture, policies
and resources
Yes — Reform of
Australian Government
Administration:
Building the world’s
best public service
Yes — culture and
people policies for the
APS for Gov 2.0
Yes — records
management/archives
policies
Yes — topic specific
input
Yes — e.g. cross
government
activities Responsive
Government A New
Service Agenda
Yes — departmental
performance
information in
relation to programs
and ‘system health’
Yes — people
development
Yes — national
collections
Yes — front line
delivery of ‘content’
Yes — to agencies
on ICT issues
No
Yes — to agencies
on people/culture
issues
Yes
No
Yes — on performance
of departments and
agencies against FOI
Act requirements for
information plans
Yes — e.g. Interacting
with Government
Australians’ use
and satisfaction
with e-government
services—2008
Yes — e.g. in respect
of broad public service
reform outcomes
Yes — State of the
Service Reports
Yes — departmental
record keeping
practices
Yes — in respect of
own performance via
annual reports etc
No No No Hearings on disputed
FOI requests
Source: Government 2.0 Taskforce Project 13, Government 2.0 Governance and Institutions:
Embedding the 2.0 agenda in the APS, Heuris Partners
As detailed in Chapter 4, both the UK and the US have driven the Government 2.0 agenda with
128 This table is taken from the report of the Government 2.0 Taskforce Project 13, Government 2.0 Governance and
Institutions: Embedding the 2.0 agenda in the APS by Heuris Partners http://gov2.net.au/projects/project-13/.
Engage: <strong>Getting</strong> on with Government 2.0 | report of the government 2.0 taskforce
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