Image: William Olsen.
While the governments of Australia have been quick to jump on the open data bandwagon, it’s only taken until the middle of 2015 for Western Australia to join the ranks of digital transparency.
Now the Colin Barnett government has announced that the Western Australian government will launch its own whole-of-government open data policy, which the government hopes will drive innovation and improve the management of public sector data.
This puts Western Australia alongside the federal government, which launched its own Open Data portal in March 2011, followed by the Victorian government in August 2012, the Queensland government in December 2012, and South Australia in September 2013.
The New South Wales government revamped its own Open Data website in 2013, which had been well ahead of the curve by providing data sets online since 2009.
The new WA policy was formally launched at GovHack 2015, a government-supported open data event to create new apps that add value to government data.
WA’s Land and Information Authority, Landgate will implement the policy in consultation with other government agencies.
Not only is the new policy a significant catch up with the rest of Australia, the government aims to provide data sets as “open by default” to encourage innovators and entrepreneurs, as well as support the development of new products and services.
Premier Colin Barnett said he is confident that WA entrepreneurs will use these datasets to create new products, services and business opportunities, and the government welcomes public input about data access priorities.
Minister for Finance Bill Marmion said the information collected by agencies could deliver positive community and business outcomes.
“There are already good examples of the benefits of using WA data, including the development of a new tracking device that had its origins in Landgate and Department of Mines and Petroleum information,” Mr Marmion said.
He said the Open Data Policy will also allow agencies to work better together and reduce duplication.
Minister for Lands Terry Redman said the policy would result in the release of appropriate and high-value data to the public in easily discoverable and usable ways.
“This policy will facilitate the release of more government data and improve consistency in how data is released across the sector,” he said.
