By Angela Dorizas

Collaboration and collective learning will drive the Government 2.0 agenda in Australia.

That was one of the take-home messages from the Government 2.0 Conference in Canberra this week.

Chair of the event was Craig Thomler, online communications director at the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. 

He said there was a lot of progress in the Government 2.0 space, but much of it was “very compartmentalized”.

“These sorts of events are really useful for helping people understand what else is going on across government,” he told Government News.

“It’s very important, because if we can share that information we can all learn collectively and get better at what we do.”

He said there was a great deal of “isolation” between departments and between levels of government.

“There are legislative and policy reasons for that, which keep government agencies apart deliberately for information security purposes and privacy and operational reasons,”  he said.

“Finding the balance between the level of collaboration that helps us all achieve our goals versus the making sure that we’re still preserving the necessary privacies and freedoms is an ongoing discussion.

“I think we’ll see more visible collaboration taking place over time.”

He said he was satisfied with the rate of progress since the release of the Final Report of the Govenrment 2.0 Taskforce in December 2009.

“I think there is a real passion in the public service for public service,” he said.

“Government 2.0 is becoming a vehicle whereby we can better achieve the outcomes.”

Mr Thomler said it was important to view it as an ongoing process.

“It doesn’t come to an end when you actually get the Twitter account live or the Facebook page up,” he said.

“You have to continue to drive it and to get people into the vehicle.”

Lessons from the UK

Andrew Stott, director for transparency and digital engagement in the UK Government’s Cabinet Office delivered the international keynote address.

The so-called “twittercrat” said it was more important for governments to focus on openness and releasing data sets, rather than Web 2.0 tools.

“It’s not an IT project,” Mr Stott said.

“This is not a technocrat activity. This is about increasing the transparency of government.”

Mr Stott stressed the importance of political backing for Government 2.0.

“Leadership is not just something you need from your CIO,” he said.

“It’s political leadership and leadership from the top of the organisation.

“You’ve got to have consistent policy principles and use those to make tough decisions.”

Mr Stott said his key objectives as the director for transparency and digital engagement were to increase transparency; improve public services; release new economic and social growth; and improve skills across the nation.

He advised governments in Australia to engage with the community as they drive the Government 2.0 agenda.

“Think how you can make the data more useful and engage with communities in order to do that,” he said.

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