The City of Yarra adopted an Open Data Policy on the 22nd May 2018:
Oddly, four years later, the policy is not available for download on the public transparency page nor on the strategies, policies and plans page:
Streets Alive Yarra obtained a copy from council:
Overlap with Public Transparency Policy
The Open Data Policy overlaps with, and supports, the Public Transparency Policy, which was adopted on 18th August 2020:
officers are guided by the overriding principle that Council information should be generally be available and accessible to members of the public.
City of Yarra Public Transparency Policy
Statements
The Open Data Policy contains multiple important statements:
Yarra City Council is committed to the implementation of an open data policy that encompasses all segments of council.
City of Yarra Open Data Policy
form the foundation for … better, more informed decision making
City of Yarra Open Data Policy
Improve citizen engagement with Council
City of Yarra Open Data Policy
Support evidence based policy and practice across all business units
City of Yarra Open Data Policy
Open by Default – Council has adopted a position of data openness with an emphasis on data release unless there is a compelling reason to restrict or preclude access for reasons of privacy, confidentiality, sensitivity or other relevant considerations.
City of Yarra Open Data Policy
Council performance
Although Yarra has published 17 datasets on data.gov.au, council could do much better to deliver the Open Data Policy and the Public Transparency Policy, by publishing data to enable residents to understand how assets, infrastructure, revenue and capital expenditure varies across the municipality, and over time, by publishing a table of data each year:
If the above data isn’t available, or isn’t available per LAPM area, we suggest that it’s worth the effort to collect and granulate the data, because it would help both council and residents to prioritise future expenditure. Just one example could be comparing the space allocated for car parking, and the space allocated for trees:
Published 18th August 2021