“The new data.gov.au site has now been released and I invite you to explore, access and reuse the data available on the site. The release of public sector information in the form of datasets allows the commercial, research and community sectors to add value to government data in new, innovative and exciting ways. Data.gov.au plays a crucial role in realising the Australian Government’s commitment to informing, engaging and participating with the public, as expressed in its Declaration of Open Government and Freedom of Information (FoI) reforms. It is the Australian equivalent to similar overseas sites such as the United States’ data.gov, the United Kingdom’s data.gov.uk and New Zealand’s data.govt.nz. Agencies such as the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Geoscience Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) already release large amounts of data to the public. An important goal of data.gov.au is to provide a broader range of agencies the opportunity to similarly release more data online. More than 200 datasets are accessible through data.gov.au”