Governing the City State - Chief Minister and Treasury Directorate ...

processes. Of equal importance, however, is increasing access to information tabled in theAssembly for members of the community.The imperative for more open Government has already been recognised by Australiangovernments and an increasingly more open approach is emerging in the ACTPS including inresponse to the Parliamentary Agreement for the 7th Legislative Assembly for the ACT. Inthe Commonwealth sphere, the Government 2.0 Taskforce argues:Information collected by or for the public sector is a national resource which should bemanaged for public purposes. That means that we should reverse the current presumption thatit is secret unless there are good reasons for release and presume instead that it should befreely available for anyone to use and transform unless there are compelling privacy,confidentially or security considerations which require otherwise. 132Use of the “new collaborative tools and approaches of Web 2.0 offers an unprecedentedopportunity to achieve more open, accountable, responsive and efficient government.” 133Web 2.0 tools like blogs, wikis and social networking platforms create opportunities forsharing information and fostering collaboration within government, and between governmentagencies and the citizenry.The recently elected government in the United Kingdom undertook the “most radical shakeup of our politics for decades” with Deputy Prime Minister the Rt Hon Nick Clegg noting“'real democracy is unspun; it is the raucous, unscripted debates that always throw up the bestideas”.134 Using the Your Freedom website tool, the UK Government reviewed its statutebook as part of attempts to bring “…transparency to every area of public life” 135 – an issuewhich remains central to its Programme for Government. The website allowed members ofthe public to “tell us which laws and regulations you think we should get rid of” andencouraged participation and dialogue within the citizenry: “if you see an idea here that youagree with, then rate it to move it up the list. If you have more to say about an idea, then addyour comment. Or submit your own idea if it isn't yet on the site ... And remember - we wantyou to suggest ideas for removing laws and regulations, rather than ideas for creatingthem.” 136As part of embedding changed ways of working for the ACTPS, however, engagement andcollaboration must move beyond a debate about the merits of particular tools, to a focus onthe purpose and design of participatory decision making processes rather than the means bywhich they might be conducted. These changes will be more successful if they build andexpand upon existing structures and networks in the community and the ACTPS rather thanspecifically creating new ones. The ANZSOG Institute for Governance at the University of132 Commonwealth Government (2009) Engage Getting on with Government 2.0 Report of the Government 2.0 Taskforce.Canberra, p.xii.133 Commonwealth Government (2009) p.xii.134 United Kingdom Government (2010a) Your Freedomhttp://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100824180635/http://yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk/135 United Kingdom Government (2010b) The Coalition: Our Program for Government. London, p.7.136 United Kingdom Government (2010a)Governing the City State: 89