• Free Daily Newsletter
  • Get Premium
  • Small Logo
  • About
  • Partner Pages
  • Support & FAQs
  • Log in

The Mandarin

The Mandarin
The Mandarin
  • Small Logo
  • Premium
  • Careers
    • Search SES Jobs
    • Career Advice
  • News
  • Editors' Picks
  • Portfolios
  • Events
  • Resource library
  • Small Logo
  • Premium
  • Careers
    • Search SES Jobs
    • Career Advice
  • News
  • Editors' Picks
  • Portfolios
  • Events
  • Resource library

Partner Content

Home Sponsored Agencies crowdsource policy answers through GovHack

Agencies crowdsource policy answers through GovHack

By Tableau

Thursday July 18, 2019

Citizens depend on their governments to provide essential services and to make decisions with their best interests at heart.

It is realistic to expect that most, if not all, of these decisions should be data-driven; that is, there is auditable evidence of need and justification that the government’s response to it is proportionate.

Instances where decisions appear not to stack up against available knowledge and data can undermine trust and faith in the ability of governments to lead and execute.

Of course, governments are not the sole domain of good ideas. They do not have all the answers to challenges that citizens might face.

That is leading governments to invite citizens into the ideation process much earlier, rather than simply seeking their feedback on an idea that has already been partially developed.

The federal government has shown this kind of citizen engagement works through the annual GovHack competition.

Via GovHack, agencies are able to crowdsource a range of different answers and approaches to the kinds of policy and practical data-driven questions that might keep them up at night.

The questions this year ranged from unmasking “hidden data behind the labour market” and using data to make better conservation decisions for oceans, to extracting value from Australian finance data.

The Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) deputy commissioner for enterprise culture, change and innovation Jane King said this year’s event “provided [the agency] with some great ideas”.

As she noted, the competition brought together a range of people to solve government problems – effectively “anyone who wanted to join” could.

Given all citizens have to interact with the ATO every year, those same citizens are also well-placed to suggest better ways of doing things, and those improvements then flow into the processes used at tax time.

“Making better use of our data allows for early engagement with our clients, helping them to get things right from the start. This in turn helps to build trust and confidence in the system,” King said.

“GovHack brings citizens face-to-face with policy makers to deliver first-hand perspectives of what the community needs from government and the data it holds,” the Australian Public Service Commission adds.

Beyond being just about dollars

In Australia, the economy-wide value of government data is estimated to be up to  $25 billion per year, according to the government’s own Bureau of Communications Research.

That means there is tremendous economic benefit in asking people outside of government to find value from the data it generates.

However, beyond economic benefits, there are even greater societal factors at play that should impress upon government the case for citizen engagement through data.

Put simply, citizens want access to the data and the onus is on the government to give it to them in a useful – and neutral – format.

“When a citizen reads something in the newspaper, reads a tweet, has a chat with their neighbour, sees something on TV they do not like, if they are going to stay engaged with our democracy and have a voice in this society, they need to be able to reach out and have at their fingertips the government information,” National Archives of Australia director-general David Fricker said.

“They need to find the truth.”

“The information has to be obvious, discoverable, compatible with the way they want to use it and reliable so that they can have a voice in democracy, have an influence on government, have an opinion which has got equal weight with all of the other opinions in the discourses, debates, arguments and discussions that occur across Australian society.”

Smoothing the path

While the federal government shares a sizable amount of non-sensitive data through its open data.gov.au portal, it is arguable whether this goes far enough.

In some quarters, governments are now not only providing the source data but also tools to visualise it.  Interactive visualisation enables citizens to ask questions more easily and properly understand the data by allowing them to explore how reported numbers are reached, and peel through the layers, asking questions of a deeper level.  This will give them a better footing to engage in policy discussions and become ‘change agents’ in that process.

One example of this approach is the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), which uses Tableau to provide interactive data visualisations for alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs, health expenditure, obesity, palliative care and homelessness services. The agency has made over 1000 interactive visualisations public to date, providing a clear demonstration of how better access to data can help citizens engage on health and welfare issues.

Outside of federal government, the NSW government’s Sharing and Enabling Environmental Data (SEED) portal also provides a glimpse of how the combination of data and tools exponentially increases the level of citizen engagement that can be wrung out of government data.

One thing is clear.  Agencies have come to realise that by asking for the public’s help, they can find new and interesting ways to solve problems they have struggled internally to solve before.

Hackathons, community consultation portasl and interactive visualisations are just some of the tools available to governments to seek out that citizen help and engagement.

At the end of the day, organisations really need to approach their strategy towards data with one of open to the sharing of ideas as this can ultimately to new approaches to policy, program improvements and better experiences for employees and the community at large.

About the author

By Tableau

Tableau helps people see and understand data. Tableau helps anyone quickly analyze, visualize and share information. A leader in global visual analytics, Tableau has helped more than 78,000 customer accounts get rapid results in the office and on-the-go.

Companies: Tableau

Partners: Tableau

Tags: ATO Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) Australian Taxation Office Bureau of Communications Research citizens data data-driven Government government data GovHack health expenditure homelessness services illicit drugs Jane King obesity palliative care tabacco tableau

Login
Please login to comment
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
The Mandarin Premium

Canberra’s changed

Stay on top for only $5 a week

 

Get Premium Today

Already a subscriber? Login

By Tableau

Thursday July 18, 2019
Text size: A A A

Upcoming Events

01
Apr
Postgraduate studies in regulation and governance at ANU RegNet
14
Jul
Building Visibility + Influence for Women in the Public Sector – MASTERCLASS
03
Aug
Playing Bigger: Uplevelling Influence + Impact for Public Sector Leaders – ONLINE PROGRAM
15
Aug
CILT International Diploma in Logistics and Transport (Public-Sector)
21
Jun
Humanify HR Consulting – HR Leadership in Practice (HRLP)
View Calendar

Partner Content

Partnership putting healthcare automation in safe hands
Promoted

Partnership putting healthcare automation in safe hands

Meeting in the middle: How governments and Indigenous communities can work together, differently
Promoted

Meeting in the middle: How governments and Indigenous communities can work together, differently

eBook: Digitisation and Modernisation in Public Health Organizations

eBook: Digitisation and Modernisation in Public Health Organizations

Latest Jobs


  • Head of Programs

    Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership at Monash University

    • VIC CBD
    Closing date 22nd July, 2022
    3 days ago Full Time - Fixed Term
  • General Manager Decision Support Services

    Bureau of Meteorology

    • National
    Closing date 10th July, 2022
    4 days ago Full Time - Ongoing
  • Multiple Directors - Engagement, Partnerships and Communications

    Department of Customer Service

    • NSW CBD, Regional
    Closing date 1st June, 2022
    1 month ago Full Time - Fixed Term
  • Executive Director Corporate Services - Canberra, Melbourne or Sydney

    Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity

    • VIC CBD
    Closing date 3rd July, 2022
    6 days ago Full Time - Ongoing
  • Executive Director Corporate Services - Canberra, Melbourne or Sydney

    Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity

    • ACT CBD, Regional
    Closing date 3rd July, 2022
    6 days ago Full Time - Ongoing
  • Executive Director Corporate Services - Canberra, Melbourne or Sydney

    Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity

    • NSW
    Closing date 3rd July, 2022
    6 days ago Full Time - Ongoing
Search All Jobs

Login

Get Premium now. Not ready? Get the free Daily newsletter.

Forgot password?

Share via email

Access your 3 free Mandarin Premium articles

As part of your free trial you will receive 'The Juice', The Mandarin's daily free newsletter, the 'Premium wrap' every Saturday and marketing emails. You can opt out at any time.
Content
  • Small Logo
  • News
  • Research Series
  • Features
  • Portfolios
  • Jurisdictions
  • New Zealand
  • People & Capability
  • Thought Leadership
  • Editors' Picks
  • Resource Library
  • Site Map
Products & Services
  • Small Logo
  • The Juice Newsletter
  • Partner & Advertising solutions
  • Mandarin Live
  • Public Sector Events Calendar
  • Partner Content
  • Premium
  • Careers
Legal
  • Small Logo
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Usage
  • Code of Conduct
Connect
  • Small Logo
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Support
  • Our Team
Social
Copyright © The Mandarin
Private Media logo CRIKEY SMARTCOMPANY
wpDiscuz