Editorial
By Matt Cooney,
Most of us have reason to complain about the government from time to time, but let’s be honest: we have it pretty good. We even get to turf out our MPs and councillors more frequently than most. Everything could use a timely tweak, however, and that’s what the hallway revolutionaries featured in our cover story are doing. They’re using technology to introduce a new level of transparency to government, a better way for public servants and citizens to communicate and useful new services using the mountain of public data that government agencies hold.
It’s not a new idea, and, as Julie Starr reports on page 60, other countries are leading the way. Their governments are actively working to provide their data in a timely and open way to entrepreneurs, motivated citizens and public groups. For them, the upside is the efficiencies that transparency can bring and also in restoring some of the damage done to their reputations by the misadventure in Iraq, the British parliamentary expenses scandal and election disputes.
Those issues aren’t bugging voters here, but we hear encouraging noises that John Key’s governent will act soon to make public data available. Bring it on. It’s good for democracy, good for the economy—by around $480 million a year, according to the Ministry of Economic Development—and it should improve the service offered by many industries, like real estate or journalism. What could be more welcome than an economic boost and better government?
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