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Tanner: Gov 2.0 about culture change, not technology

Promoting greater acceptance of Web 2.0 technologies by government is a cultural challenge, far more than a technology issue, the Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Lindsay Tanner, told CeBIT’s Gov 2.0 Conference in Canberra.

Mr Tanner, who earlier this year announced the Government 2.0 Taskforce to plot future strategies for government use of interactive technologies, told the conference that Open Government was a concept the Rudd Government was “pretty passionate about” but it would require cultural change to transform established political processes and customs.

“Technology in itself does not deliver changes of this kind. It provides the tools,” Mr Tanner said.

“The challenge is dealing with cultural and procedural changes.”

He spoke of the role of the public service in the era of open government, and the need to resolve the issue of its need to be able to engage with the public, without overstepping its traditional boundaries.

“It would be a mistake for Government 2.0 advocates to just see the public service as a process in need of an upgrade,”  he said.

“Striking a balance is a challenge, but one I think that through the taskforce we can achieve.

“We do want to ensure that we have the capacity for public servants to feel able to engage, and engage in robust discussion online.

“We need to reward innovation in the public service, as we do in other areas of the economy and society.”

Minister Tanner also hit on the issue of copyright of government data as one that must be solved to bring maximum benefits of Web 2.0 technology to the public.

“The key is to reduce the burdens and barriers to people who want to use such information,” he said.
He suggested one solution would be to license people to be able use government data from the outset, rather than have them go through delays while seeking approval when that information is needed quickly.

“Should all data be made available? The answer is yes – unless there are some good reasons not to do so. Certainly we should always start from that assumption.”

The minister also announced two winning proposals that had already emerged from public input to the taskforce.

These were to make the Government gazette, one of the oldest Government publications, available in machine readable format, and the archiving of old data from Government websites so that it would be available to future generations.

Ultimately, he said, Australia’s political and public sector processes were well suited for the successful implementation of Gov 2.0 services.

“We are pretty good at bureaucracy – at balancing rules and pragmatism. And that is how I think we can make a real go at Gov 2.0.”

Learn more about public sector ICT solutions at CeBIT’s Government Technology Expo.

View all photos of Lindsay Tanner at the Gov 2.0 Conference.
 

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• government 2.0 Taskforce
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