Commonwealth of Australia
The federal tier. Rarely the direct approver for building or small business, but sets environment, tax, migration, communications and workplace obligations that sit alongside state processes.
The Commonwealth is where Australian open data is strongest, and where the gap between "published" and "usable" is easiest to demonstrate. AusTender, the Transparency Portal and the ABS release genuinely good material.
That makes it the right place to start, for an unobvious reason: the federal tier is the control group. When a question cannot be answered at council level, the standard reply is that small councils lack the resources. Showing that the same question is answerable federally, from data collected for much the same purpose, turns a resourcing excuse into a design question.
Access to information regime
- Commonwealth FOI
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth)
Questions about this jurisdiction
Publishers
- Australian Bureau of Statistics
National statistical agencymedian usability 100/100 across 1 datasets
- Australian Electoral Commission
Elections and political finance disclosuremedian usability 90/100 across 1 datasets
- Clean Energy Regulator
Administers Commonwealth climate and renewable energy schemesmedian usability 90/100 across 2 datasets
- Department of Finance
Procurement, AusTender, annual reportingmedian usability 69/100 across 2 datasets
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
Commonwealth health, aged care and disability portfoliomedian usability 49/100 across 1 datasets
- Department of the Treasury
Commonwealth economic policy department; administers federal financial relationsmedian usability 49/100 across 1 datasets
- Housing Australia
Commonwealth housing finance and guarantee bodymedian usability 49/100 across 1 datasets
- National Housing Supply and Affordability Council
Independent advisory council on housing supplymedian usability 49/100 across 1 datasets
- Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
FOI and privacy regulatormedian usability 69/100 across 1 datasets
- Productivity Commission
Independent research and advisory bodymedian usability 90/100 across 1 datasets