After being locked out of budget lockup BudgetAus urgently needs the support of Australians to launch with the new data on May 14.
The concept of budget transparency is important. For those who have not read my prior posts and sources on this issue, budget transparency is about the government publicly documenting that the money it spends has been approved by parliament for the purpose to which it is then put. Without the measures started just a few years ago with Operation Sunlight, governments would still be able to get funds which are meant to be used for a purpose approved by parliament and spend it on campaigning or other things.
Given the lack of any technical reason why Australians can’t have budget data in a format that would enable it to be plugged into BudgetAus on budget day, the public should really be asking why the government are standing in the way of this instead of facilitating it?
As a last ditch effort to launch on budget night with the new data BudgetAus will be hosting a Budget Lockout Hacknight in Canberra on the evening of May 14 from 6.30 to enter the new data manually. With 20 volunteers it should be done online by 7.30. Venue yet to be confirmed.
Please take the time to look at BudgetAus.net and read the background on the issues the project is facing at BudgetAus.net/wp and decide for yourself if you think Australians should have the new budget data on budget night in a site like BudgetAus.net.