Agenda Item 1
Attachment B
Open Government Forum
28 July 2017
Establishment of the Open Government Forum
Commitment 5.1 of Australia’s first Open Government National Action Plan commits Australia to establishing a multistakeholder forum.
The Government established the Forum transparently and in partnership with civil society.
The Interim Working Group led the consultation and engagement process to establish the Forum.
This commenced on 17 April 2017, with a series of publications, circulated via LinkedIn and twitter and published on the Open Government Partnership website, providing information about the Open Government Partnership and multistakeholder forums.
On 1 May 2017, the Interim Working Group published a proposal on how the multistakeholder forum might work. The IWG provided “three ways to have your say”: by social media, making a submission, or attending a public workshop. This included:
- Receipt of four submissions(Amelia Loye, Cameron Shorter, Chris Snow and Tim Smith), responding to 10 targeted questions posed in the proposal;
- A Twitter Q&A with the Interim Working Group Co-Chairs on 4 May, which resulted in nearly 500 engagements (retweets and likes) and nearly 21,000 impressions; and
- A public workshop in Melbourne on 17 May, attended by 28 participants:
Shreya BasuLinda BlackEsther CareyKen Coghill
Elizabeth DaxKayelle DrinkwaterMel FlanaganJames Horton
Barry JonesAmanda LawrenceColleen LewisAmelia Loye
Rebecca MarcsFiona McLeodBen MinerdsValarie Sands
Tim SmithWilliam StoryKat SzuminskaGreg Thompson
Peter TimminsElizabeth TyddAndrew WalterAlan Wu
Mark Zirnsak
About 200 viewers viewed the opening and closing of the workshop, which was livestreamed.
The Open Government Interim Working Group met on 18 May and considered the results of the consultations. It made the recommendations to government relating to the establishment of Australia’s first multistakeholder forum, which it proposed should be called the OpenGovernment Forum.
Government accepted the Interim Working Group’s recommendations and opened nominations for civil society members of the Forum from 8-22 June. All valid nominations were published on the OGP Australia website on 23 June.
Following a public nomination process, a Selection Panel made recommendations to government on the appointment of Forum members.
The Panel was made up of two civil society representatives and one government representative.
It included the two Co Chairs of the Forum, Fiona McLeod SC, President of the Law Council of Australia and Dr Steven Kennedy PSM, Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
The other Panel member was Hon Murray Kellam AO, an eminent jurist and Tasmania’s first Integrity Commissioner.
Nominations were assessed by a selection panel comprising Co-Chairs of the Open Government Forum (Dr Steven Kennedy PSM, Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Fiona McLeod SC, President of the Law Council of Australia) and the Hon Murray Kellam AO, who made recommendations to government on the appointment of Forum members.TheGovernment accepted the Panel’s recommendations.