Open Data in Australia

To publish public sector information in an open and accessible way for citizens and governments makes sense. This is way so many governments are doing just that. In this video by FutureGov.Asia Peter Harper from the Australian bureau of statistics explains how the Australian government views open data and which arguments are supporting their efforts to publish publicly held data.

According to Peter Harper, there are political reasons to publish data. Citizens are better informed and given the right processes can assist the government in policy formulation. In addition a culture of openness also makes the government more responsive to citizens. Some critics of open data initiatives point out the costs of collecting and publishing data. However, as the statistician of the Australian government explains, most of these costs are incurred anyway, because the data is needed internally in government administration. The experience of the Australian government is, that costs outweigh the benefits. The economic benefits are actually huge - for Australia Harper estimates the economic benefits of open data to be billions if not tens of billions Australian dollars.

Why should this assessment of open data not hold for all public sectors, including development cooperations? Why should arguments of costs and questionable use e.g. in the context of the International Aid Transparency Initiative be more valid then in other public sectors?