Following a Computerworld report on the appointment of a Microsoft consultant as part of Standard Australia's (SA) delegation for this month's Ballot Resolution Meeting (BRM) in Geneva, the organization's CEO has defended the objectivity of the decision.

Standards Australia has cast a vote to abstain from the ISO/IEC JTC1 ballot to adopt the DIS 29500 Office Open XML format draft standard as an International Standard. The decision to cast an abstain vote from the current ballot follows months of consultation and a clear lack of consensus in Australia on this issue by stakeholders.

The Open Source Industry of Australia (OSIA) has formally contacted Standards Australia, requesting that Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) format not be endorsed by the body as an ISO standard.