The Special Minister of State, Gary Gray has pushed out Australia’s data.gov.au site.

Mr Gray said data.gov.au was developed as part of the Australian Government’s commitment to informing, engaging and participating with the public, as outlined in the Declaration of Open Government and Freedom of Information (FoI) reforms.
 
“The release of public sector information allows the commercial, research and community sectors to use data generated and collected by the Government and add value in new, innovative and exciting ways,” he said.
 
There were about 200 datasets available on data.gov.au, including economic, taxation and environmental data.

 

The site also provides links to other government data catalogues such as My School, MyHospitals, the Australian Spatial Data Directory and the Queensland Government Information Service.
 
The release of data.gov.au replaces the data.australia.gov.au beta site, which was developed for the Government 2.0 Taskforce’s Mashup Australia contest in 2009.
 
On the new site, people can; suggest datasets they would like released by Australian Government agencies; participate on the site by rating and commenting on datasets; provide feedback and suggestions for site improvements; and contribute submissions of mashups or data-based initiatives they produce.
 
Data.gov.au was managed by the Australian Government Information Management Office, a business group of the Department of Finance and Deregulation.