Queensland appoints Australia’s first e-Government Assistant Minister

The Queensland Government has become the first jurisdiction in Australia to formally appoint a politician to a specific e-government role, with the appointment of Ray Stevens as the Assistant Minister to the Premier on e-Government.

His role is to oversee the development of the QLD government’s open data site (to be at data.qld.gov.au), supported by an Open Data Reform Group including the Director-Generals of all Queensland Government Departments.

The Open Data Reform Group will seek feedback from the public and the ICT sector on what kinds of data, and what formats they need to develop solutions.

Hopefully this group will also draw on expertise from Gov 2.0 practitioners within the government, in the Government 2.0 Community of Practice in Queensland, as well as from open data and Government 2.0 advocates across Australia.

Also very welcome for Gov 2.0 and open government supporters was Premier Newman’s statement that “The LNP is determined to change the culture of the Queensland Government to be more open by allowing more public access to Government information collected in all regions, in all kinds of formats, for all kinds of reasons.”

The Premier’s media release is at Queensland Government’s ‘open data’ revolution begins.