Kate also showed a down-to-Earth appreciation of cloud computing hype and opportunities, proving once again that she is an incredibly switched on politician.

It is quite clear that, while the political drive on open government and gov 2.0 remains important, the ball is now in the departments’ and agencies’ hands to use these as essential means to achieve outcomes and solve problems, rather than a desirable attribute that gets discarded as soon as tougher and more urgent priorities emerge.

Full article at http://blogs.gartner.com/andrea_dimaio/2011/11/23/a-politician-who-understands-the-tactical-nature-of-gov-2-0/

While the public at large may reside in ignorance of this global internet fuelled phenomenon affecting applications they use with such regularity, there are those in our nation’s capital like Jackson who are celebrating it this week with the Open Source Developers Conference.

Held over five days at the ANU, the conference included a variety of complicated sounding seminars for programming geeks and a key note speech from our own Senator Kate Lundy on her pet passion: Gov 2.0.

Jackson says Gov 2.0 or ‘Open Government’ is the idea that “the Government should release information as the default, not hide it”.

Article includes an interview with OSDC organiser Gavin Jackson. Full article at http://blogs.abc.net.au/canberra/2011/11/open-source-democratising-the-internets.html

In Sydney last Thursday, Arts Minister Simon Crean and Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Kate Lundy invited the local digital arts sector to a public forum. In his speech to the forum, Crean made a case for how the sector could play a more central role in national cultural conversations.

“The games industry is in effect the next iteration of the film industry, because it embraces interaction,” Crean said.

Full article is at http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/in-need-of-a-game-changer/story-e6frg8n6-1226163342767

What is a “digital culture public sphere”, and why should we care?

The government wants feedback on its National Cultural Policy. It will run out of Senator Kate Lundy’s office and will feed into Arts Minister Simon Crean’s policy brief as he develops the policy, which Crikey is assured will be delivered some time next year.

According to Lundy, a public sphere it is setting up is “the applied use of social networking tools to capture and complement a traditional consultation process”.

Crikey readers who like to follow academic debates should note that in this context, the phrase “public sphere” means something slightly different to the traditional philosophical understanding of the term, as advanced by Jurgen Habermas and championed by NYU academic Jay Rosen.

The idea is to use social networking and other “government 2.0” tools to gather feedback and “draw together expertise and diverse ideas from individuals and organisations right across the digital arts and industry spectrum, and from all around Australia”.

Read full article at http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/09/30/where-arts-and-policy-meet-in-the-digital-sphere/

Senator Lundy pays tribute to ACS for her long-term interest in ICT.

Dubbed as the “Senator that gets it”, Kate Lundy earned an honorary membership of the Australian Computer Society (ACS) as part of its ICT awards 2011 in Canberra last night.

“There was no one more fitting than Senator Lundy to be awarded an honorary membership of the society,” said ACS chair Anthony Wong.

Wong said the membership appreciated Lundy’s strong advocacy of the Internet, Gov 2.0, open source and ICT innovation.

Lundy was pleased with the award and said that she believed she was technically not eligible to join the Society as she had no tertiary degree.

“ICT sits at the heart of this country’s prospects and potential,” Lundy said in accepting the award.

“I feel privileged to be part of the telling of that story. I come from the union movement of the building industry. I met an amazing person, Tom Worthington, then incoming ACS president”.

She said Tom Worthington (now Adjunct lecturer at ANU’s Research School of Computer Science) explained the merits of an ISDN line at the time – and how much it cost.

“It gave me an insight into the public policy of ICT that I had no idea of before,” she said.

“When I contemplated politics in 1995, I was convinced that the Internet was going to be one of the biggest debates in the Federal Parliament about this country’s future. For a while there my colleagues said it was a fad and to get over it. Now look at where we are”.

Please see rest of article at http://www.itnews.com.au/News/272261,kate-lundy-receives-acs-accolade.aspx

A PROJECT to bring together culturally diverse young people can now get off the ground thanks a $50,000 grant to SydWest Multicultural Services from Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration Affairs, Senator Kate Lundy said last week.

The presentation was also attended by Greenway MP Michelle Rowland and Blacktown police chief, Superintendent Mark Wright.

The grant is part of the Government’s Diversity and Social Cohesion Program to encourage good social behaviour in public spaces such as shopping centres, Blacktown station and other places where young people congregate.

Read full article at http://www.blacktownsun.com.au/news/local/news/general/grant-helps-new-project/2254533.aspx

The Federal Government has formally appointed Dr Helen Szoke as Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner in a full-time role.

Canberra’s long wait for high-speed internet delivered by the National Broadband Network will end today.

The Gillard Government will announce that work on the optical fibre to the home network will begin in Gungahlin in October.

NBN Co says after the first 3000 homes are connected, the network will fan out until all of Canberra is connected.

All premises in Gungahlin are expected to be connected by the end of next year.

Read full article at http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/gungahlin-nbn-work-under-way-in-october/2246365.aspx

PETER CAVE: Senators and government officials have again worked well into the night as they pore over details of the federal budget. One of the committees attracting the most attention has been grilling Immigration Department officials about the Government’s asylum seeker strategies. As Ashley Hall reports from Canberra, the strain of a long couple of days is beginning to fray tempers.

Read full transcript or listen to the audio at http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2011/s3226109.htm