Australian Government Linked Data Working Group
The Australian Government Linked Data Working Group was established in August 2012 to meet the Linked Data challenges facing the Australian government.
About Linked Data
“Linked Data” refers to a set of standards, practices, and tools for publishing and linking structured data on the Web. Data that is Linked Data is linked to other data and can in turn be linked from other data. It is data that is published in a machine-readable way because all data is explicitly described in meaning and in format. For data publishers, it aims to efficiently maximise the capacity for interoperability and correct interpretation of published data. For data consumers it aims to maximise the efficient and correct re-use of data.
Be inspired by this video of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web:
Governance
This Working Group is informal but some of its functions are recognised
by multiple agencies. A Memorandum of Understanding, signed in 2017, is
in effect between 6 agencies (DTA,
BoM, CSIRO, Dept.
Finance, GA &
NAA) which reserves the use of this web
address, linked.data.gov.au, for Linked Data resources.
Read the MoU
As Linked Data technologies advance and become commonplace, it will be necessary for Government to become responsive to the demands of its citizens, as well as its own entities, in regard to Linked Data’s use. Developing government arrangements and establishing technical mechanisms for Linked Data implementations will ensure Australian individuals, businesses and organisations can benefit from the opportunities these technologies offer.
The Group is a community of Commonwealth Government Linked Data experts and champions with invited, non-voting, participation of individuals, corporations and other entities. In addition to drafting policy and technical guidance on the implementation of Linked Data for the Australian Government, members of the group also supply some core technical Linked Data services.
More Linked Data info
See our Showcase page for information about Australian Government Linked Data including links to Linked Data systems and data and also presentations about Linked Data.
See our How To page for how to do things like register persistent *.data.gov.au URIs and publish ontologies.
See our Assistance page for all the ways we try to help Australian government groups with Linked Data.
How we help Government:
Contact
Co-Chairs:
- Dr Nicholas Car
Australian National University - John Machin
Australian Government - Dr Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller
Australian National University - Andrew Fitzgerald
Department of Finance - Alastair Paton
Independent
Contact the co-chairs directly using:
Mailing List
The WG maintains a mailing list used for most fo our communications: notices of meeting, general discussion etc. You can request to be added to the mailing list, just ask the co-chairs.
Want to join us?
Do you want to help us raise the profile of Linked Data? Or perhaps learn about Linked Data?
Why not join the Working Group either as an observer to stay in touch with Linked Data issues or as an active group participant to make a contribution:
Attendees come from:
- Australian Bureau of Statistics
- Australian National University
- Australian Research Data Commons
- Biodiversity Information Standards (TDWG)
- CSIRO
- Department of Agriculture Forestry & Fisheries
- Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
- Department of Finance
- Department of Home Affairs
- Digital Transformation Agency
- Federation University Australia
- Geoscience Australia
- Indigenous Data Network
- Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Manufacturing and Regional and Rural Development
- Queensland Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation
- Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
- University of Western Australia
- RMIT University
Current Work
Persistent Identifier Allocations
Allocating linked.data.gov.au-namespaced IRIs, based on our URI Guidelines (see the Governance page). The status of identifiers allocated is given in the PID Allocations Catalogue:
Apply for new PIDs via the PID Catalgoue
If you don’t already have an account for this, please contact the co-chairs.
Speakers Schedule
The Working Group arranges speakers on Linked Data topics for its monthly meetings and the occasional Special Session.
So far in 2026, we have had speakers on SOLID, Verifiable Credentials and spatial Linked Data.
See our 2026 Speakers’ Schedule.
PID System Upgrade
Over the 2026 calendar year, the WG is working towards replacing the current PID system with a new, Linked Data-native, system.