1) Government information policy and access to public sector information in Australia has undergone significant changes over the past few decades. 2) Key reports and developments have aimed to improve access, discoverability, and reuse of government information. 3) However, challenges still remain around long-term access, metadata, compliance with web accessibility guidelines, and cultural changes needed for more proactive information sharing.

1. Government information policy: Access
to public sector information
Presentation to CAUL meeting no 2. 2012

2. Some key developments
Year Report/change
1964 Commonwealth Parliamentary Select Committee on Parliamentary
and Government Publications report (Erwin report)
1997 Management of Government Information as a National Strategic
Resource (Wainwright report)
1997 AGPS moves to NOIE
2006 Joint Committee on Publications Distribution of the Parliamentary
Papers Series
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3. Year Report/change
2009 Engage: Getting on with Government 2.0
2010 Electronic distribution of the Parliamentary Papers Series
2010 FoI Act changes
Establishment of Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner
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4. Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner (OAIC)
Government information responsibilities:
• FoI
• Privacy
• Information policy
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5. Policy responsibilities include
• Attorney Generals Department
• Department of Finance and Deregulation,
including AGIMO – some changes
recommended by Williams report 2012
(http://agimo.govspace.gov.au/policy-guides-procurement/review-of-the-
operational-activities-and-structure-of-agimo/)
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6. 6

7. Towards an Australian Government
Information Policy
Principles on open public sector information
1: Open access to information – a default position
2: Engaging the community
3: Effective information governance
4: Robust information asset management
5: Discoverable and useable information
6: Clear reuse rights
7: Appropriate charging for access
8: Transparent enquiry and complaints processes
http://www.oaic.gov.au/publications/papers/issues_paper1_towards_australian
_government_information_policy.pdf
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8. Major developments
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9. FoI
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10. But what has happened to government
publishing?
• Devolved responsibilities
• Overall trend reduction in “publications” of
around 50% over the past decade
(recorded in NBD)
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11. Challenges: finding
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12. One agency – a decade of change
• 2001 publications – where did online publications go?
Agency A: 2001 online publications
locations in 2011
On agency
No longer website
available online 28%
29%
Pandora
24%
On another
website
(university, OECD)
19%
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13. Agency in 2011
• Consistent with figures from the NBD which show reduced publishing (NBD)
by about 50% from 2001 to 2011.
• Now majority are online.
120%
100%
80%
Not online
60%
Online
40%
20%
0%
2001 2011
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14. Commonwealth government publications recorded in NBD
8,000
7,000
6,000
5,000
Titles
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
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15. Information publications scheme (IPS)
• specifies categories of information that
must be published
• 2012 OAIC survey
– 94% have an IPS plan
– 95% have a senior officer with IPS
responsibilities
– 85% publish on their website information
required under the FOI Act
http://www.oaic.gov.au/publications/reports/IPS_survey_report.html
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16. But
• Accessibility:
– 20% documents published under the IPS are in a
format (or multiple formats) which conform to WCAG
2.0 requirements,
– 30% most of their documents comply,
– 44% some documents comply, and
– 5% none of their documents comply
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17. Discoverability
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18. Issues: Long term access
– Agencies often have only the most up to date
manual or guidance
– Around 10% of material is not online (see
http://www.anao.gov.au/uploads/documents/2
008-09_Audit_Report_37.pdf and this study)
– Directories - only latest information online
– Machinery of government changes mean
website addresses change and documents
are “archived” or lost
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19. Issues
• Metadata – how can we find information?
– Gaps in metadata now
• Awareness
– Parliamentary papers – strong knowledge of
standards
– IPS - strong knowledge
– Long term access and discovery less
• Data
– A plateau?
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20. Top 6 issues from survey
• moving to open licensing,
• complying with web accessibility guidelines,
• applying metadata to documents,
• adopting charging policies that balance openness and
commercialisation,
• creating governance aligned to a proactive release
culture, and
• getting leadership support for this cultural change.
http://www.oaic.gov.au/news/speeches/john_mcmillan/enabling_tomorrows_open_govern
ment_august2012.html

21. Developments
• News from the NLA - Pandora plans to
harvest all Financial Management and
Accountability Act Agencies
• Government libraries under threat
(example Queensland) – who will ensure
organised collections of agency
publications and public access in the
future?
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