NSW Govt makes data open by default

Government agencies in NSW will be required to make data available "by default" under a new policy released by the state government today.

Finance Minister Andrew Constance today released the government’s first open data policy which requires agencies to “start from a position of data openness, with the prerogative in favour of data release”. 

Data and metadata will be made available at data.nsw.gov.au, unless there is a “specific, overriding” reason it should not be made public, the policy states.

Such instances would include data which contains personal information, has security implications, or data which breaches confidentiality requirements.

Data will be available free of charge under the creative commons licence, but the policy states some data could be provided “at a reasonable price”.

"Open data is at the heart of open government and we have developed a principles-based approach to the way public sector agencies provide access to their information,” Constance said in a statement.

“We are making more data available through the state’s central data portal - data.nsw.gov.au, by piloting federation with the Commonwealth, Queensland and South Australian data portals, enabling easy access to their datasets from data.nsw.gov.au.”

The state government will implement the Australian Governments’ Open Access Licensing Framework (AusGOAL) for those using the data.

Open data was one of a number of the government’s key areas of focus outlined in its ICT policy released in March last year.

It said at the time it had recognised the need to “empower and support agencies to make data available” and expected an open data policy to be developed late this year.

According to the ICT policy the government will implement the open data policy across government by Q3 2015.