yuwaya Ngarra-li | access to information
Research | Advocacy and Policy Papers
Yuwaya Ngarra-li is a partnership between the Dharriwaa Elders Group and the University of NSW to improve the wellbeing, social, environment and life pathways of Aboriginal people in Walgett (a remote town in north western NSW) through collaborating on research and capacity building.
Yuwaya Ngarra-li aims to develop appropriate local solutions and approaches that are culturally grounded and sustainable, that provide ongoing economic and employment opportunities, improve children and young peoples’ wellbeing, care for country, and strengthen community leadership and control.
We were invited to work with Yuwaya Ngarra-li in 2021. Our first phase of work was to see if we could get a clear picture of investment, programs and services in Walgett through government procurement, grants and contracts platforms and open data. The research included understanding decision making processes and where there are opportunities to improve engagement with community organisations.
The Creating Better Futures with Contracts policy paper was published in October 2022.
We are currently working on another phase about access to budget information, how budget allocations work, participatory budgeting practices, and how Closing the Gap spending is published and tracked.
Our second paper, Making Government Finances Make Sense for Communities, is due for release in September 2024.
Please visit the Dharriwaa Elders Group website to access other publications, sign up for updates and upcoming webinars.
EXTRACTIVE Industries | Transparency
Support | Publish What You Pay Australia
Publish What You Pay (PWYP) is global coalition of over 1000 civil society organisations united in advocating for transparency, accountability, environmental and social justice in the mining, oil and gas industries.
PWYP Australia works with the global PWYP network of over 40 countries to ensure that mining, oil and gas revenues are used for social and economic development, and poverty reduction in resource-rich countries. Australia’s coalition has over 25 organisations including Transparency International, Tax Justice Network, Australian Conservation Foundation, Jubilee Australia.
Mel is Chair of the Publish What You Pay Australia Steering Committee, having been a member since 2018. Mel and Nook provides pro bono support and design services when needed.
Extractive industries Transparency Initiative | Standard
Mel has been involved in raising awareness and advocacy to progress the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and introduction of the EITI Standard in Australia.
The Standard includes requirements for the disclosure of government and company financial data, social and environmental reporting, beneficial ownership transparency and open contracting.
An objective of the EITI is to bring government, civil society, industry and companies together to work on what’s required in a local context to improve access to information, address corruption risks and improve revenue collection, social and environmental impacts.
There are 26 EITI member companies operating in Australia, who report elsewhere.
Despite providing over $20 million in funding over 15 years to progress the EITI here and in other countries, the Australian Government is yet to implement it locally.
The Morrison Government decided not to progress the EITI in 2021. We continue to engage with the new government to introduce the Standard in Australia and companies to encourage local voluntary reporting.
OPEN GOVERNMENT | participation
Engagement | Advocacy and Support
We are active contributors and supporters of open government.
Most Australians inside and outside of government don’t know about open government. They don’t understand what ‘open’ means. And importantly, why it’s a good thing, how they can get involved or what to do.
For Open Gov Week 2019 and to help with engagement for Australia’s Open Government Partnership process, we made an explainer video with NSW’s Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Tydd. We also used Making Open as a home for people to find out information about events and how to get involved in developing open government commitments and the National Action Plan.
Open Government | participation
Awareness | Events, Design + Digital Campaign
In 2018 we contributed over 400 pro bono hours to open government advocacy and work. We supported the OGP Civil Society Network, and designed visual assets like the process pathways, wrote submissions, contributed ideas for commitments, helped support the OGP Secretariat and other government commitment custodians, by wrangling participants to consultations.
We are committed to ensuring open government is embedded and successful.
For Open Gov week in May 2018, we decided someone needed to celebrate and raise awareness for open government in Australia! So we took it upon our selves to; create a series of gifs for social, a poster explaining the commitments, organised a webinar, and hosted an open gov gathering at our favourite local pub - bring 40 government and active citizens to meet and share ideas.
OPEN GOVERNMENT | participation
Using process to raise awareness and engagement.
To help raise awareness for open government, we made a process pathway to tell the story of how the Australian Government, citizens, civil society, the private sector, and small businesses worked together to develop Australia's 1st National Action Plan, released 7 December 2016.
It was widely used by civil society, the OGP Independent Reporting Mechanism, and the OGP Secretariat team for advocacy and as a useful explainer.
The process pathway was updated to reflect the latest updates for Open Government Week in May of 2018. You can download the latest version here.
procurement innovation | creative industries
Open Gov | Article Proposing NSW Procurement Reform
Under the existing NSW procurement framework it is difficult for government staff to find, engage and contract creative and cultural enterprises and workers. This article is a call to action for the NSW Government to reform its procurement scheme and policies to be more inclusive.
Social enterprise | resource recovery
Pitch Documentary | Waste to Wages
There are hundreds of community recycling enterprises and innovators all over Australia, located in urban centres, rural towns and in our most remote communities.
This 11 minute pitch doco was produced in 2012 to help raise awareness about their work. It was made specifically for local council waste managers and policy makers to encourage them to support their own local recycling enterprises.
The film was widely shared and successful in inspiring many local councils to support and help scale social enterprises in their local communities. In 2017, the Community Recycling Network took on the new identity of Zero Waste Network Australia with the support for South Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC).
Role: Producer.
Collaborators: Community Recycling Network and Resource Recovery Australia