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<p>Hi Mark,</p>
<p>Thanks for the report. Which round table / forum are you talking
about? Maybe this Open Government Australia National Action Plan
consultation in Sydney yesterday?</p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/open-government-australia-national-action-plan-consultation-sydney-registration-42482246543#">https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/open-government-australia-national-action-plan-consultation-sydney-registration-42482246543#</a></p>
<p>As you are aware, I've been taking an interest providing a
response to Open Government, and I'm interested to know who else
has been getting involved and who we should be collaborating with.<br>
</p>
<p>Warm regards, Cameron<br>
</p>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 22/3/18 8:40 am, Mark Phillips
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:103315970.1230592.82d3dbfb-8f76-4593-96b5-4e7af875ec3e.open-xchange@webmailox.com.au">
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<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;">Well that was an
interesting round table.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;">In <strong>summary</strong>
there was a strong call for three interrelated points</p>
<p style="margin-left: 1.25cm; margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height:
100%;"><br>
</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;">There needs
to be a independent corruption commission at the federal
level with full investigatory and prosecution powers.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;">All decision
making in the all government and the public service must be
fully transparent, and to that end;</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;">all decision
making must be fully auditable and thus decision makers can
then be held accountable.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;">In parallel to
the anti-corruption commission, there was a also strong interest
in an independent whistle-blower commission with two major
independent streams.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><br>
</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;">Whistle-blower
support especially against retribution;</p>
</li>
<li>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;">Whistle-blower
leads to be investigated and prosecuted by an external party
to the body(s) accused of corruption.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;">This was raised
in relation to a large billion procurement program that ws
reported as having corrupt elements. The existing reporting and
investigation method resulted in ombudsman referring the
corruption to the body that was involved. This is still ongoing
court actions at the federal level. From the group discussion it
was apparent that yes there were some serious questions around
the conduct of the initial investigation. And yes there was some
VERY senior people both from the judiciary and international
lobby groups at my table.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><strong>Privacy:</strong></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;">Data-mining and
psychometric analysis is a big concern regarding privacy and
manipulation of opinions. However there was no clear suggestions
on how to deal with it with the telling comment being Australia
is too small to pressure those multinational companies partaking
in the Industry to back off. This point was raised so as to
ensure the Open Government Forum was aware of the concerns held.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;">There was
fleeting mention of the successes of the previous round of
initiatives but no in depth discussion of these results.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><strong>Discussion</strong></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;">The fundamental
point made throughout the discussion was that the public
service, including all levels of government, are there to act in
the public interest. There is the belief that this is not
necessarily the case and it is gradually getting worse.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;">It was pointed
out that there is a view by the government that the public
should trust the government to do what is right. The counter
argument was that it was the governments responsibility.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><strong>So why
am I reporting this?</strong></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;">Mostly because I
don’t think that OSIA as a specific industry body will gain much
influence of policy in this forum simply due to our narrower
focus. Procurement came up as part of the corruption discussion.
Tendering came up as part of the transparency and the
audibility/accountability discussion. The forum continually
referred back to Amit-corruption and transparency as major
talking points.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;">This is not to
say that we should not publish anything. What I’m saying we need
to focus specifically on those issues we see as important for
the industry and relating them to the main three points above.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;">Mark Phillips</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm; line-height: 100%;"><br>
</p>
<br>
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</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Cameron Shorter
Technology Demystifier, Learnosity
Open Technologies Consultant
M +61 (0) 419 142 254</pre>
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