Lightning Chats w/ Asoka Obeyesekere: Why is Public Data Important for Better Governance?

What is public data and why is it important for the public to access this data? Focusing on parliamentary data, Asoka Obeyesekere highlights how having public access to this information can help us understand what our Ministers do in Parliament and how to hold them accountable.

This is the first episode of “Lightning Chats on Public Data” by Verité Research – a series exploring the need for public access to public data held by government agencies. By highlighting the experiences of researchers, advocates, professionals and officials, we hope to create a conversation on the need to #MakePublicDataPublic.

Asoka Obeyesekere is a political scientist and barrister who has has worked on anti-corruption and governance including on the right to information, open government and abuse of state resources and proceeds of crime. His past work has also included groundbreaking electoral reform research, championing MP asset disclosure standards and securing reformed parliamentary committee reporting practices.