Senator the Hon Mathias Cormann

The Government has finalised Australia’s first Open Government National Action Plan, setting targets to further improve transparency, accountability and open data.

The Plan’s 15 commitments will help strengthen our democracy and deliver a more agile, innovative and collaborative nation.

We will:

• deliver better protections for whistle blowers in the tax and corporate sectors, 
• work with people outside of government to release more high-value data, 
• consult on reforms to our information access laws, 
• strengthen our national integrity and anti-corruption framework, and 
• implement new initiatives to improve government engagement with the community. 

The National Action Plan delivers on the Government’s commitment to join the Open Government Partnership. 

The Plan has been developed through a year-long process which included several rounds of public consultation. 

This is an international initiative that aims to secure commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. 

I look forward to representing Australia at the Ministerial Roundtable at the Open Government Partnership Global Summit in Paris tomorrow.

Further information on Australia’s involvement in the Open Government Partnership, including the Open Government National Action Plan, is available at http://ogpau.pmc.gov.au/