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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 3 Hansard (7 March) . . Page.. 570 ..
MR BERRY (continuing):
Under the general law, a person's right to protection in respect of confidential information concerning that person is protected by means of her or his ability to obtain judicial relief through an action for breach of confidence.
But, Mr Speaker, in more recent years, with the advent of economic rationalism, if you like, and the move by conservative governments to contracting out, we have more and more seen the need for an emphasis on openness in relation to the provision of services which historically have been provided by government but which have been farmed out to private sector entities. Private sector entities, in the normal course of things, expect the normal confidences to be kept in relation to their contracts with contracting entities and, of course, they have not recognised the need to conform to different standards when dealing with government. Indeed, conservative governments have relied on these codes of silence in relation to the provision of all sorts of services.
Mr Moore raised briefly the issue of the VITAB arrangements where there was a confidentiality agreement or understanding, and he also dwelt on the failure then of the Assembly to pass a motion requiring the then government to provide those documents. If, in fact, such a motion had been passed, the documents would have been provided - there is no question about that, in my assessment of things - quite in contrast to the position which has been adopted by this Government, and in particular by this Chief Minister, in relation to hire agreements for Bruce Stadium.
I go on in relation to the report which is before us today and I quote:
On the other hand, it is now widely recognised that the interest that a person has in protecting the confidentiality of information pertaining to that person must be qualified where the person enters into a business relationship with a government, or otherwise seeks the protection or assistance of government. The person must recognise that in a democratic society the government is accountable to the electorate, and that each elector is entitled, as an aspect of his or her right to hold government accountable, to information about the kinds and detail of relationships government enters into with business people and business entities.
Of course, people affected by or involved in the Bruce contract arrangements were misled by this Government. What I find interesting about this is that Mr Moore has introduced legislation, in accordance with the platform that he had before he joined the Liberals, to take some of the heat off the Government in relation to its code of secrecy and silence. He has been part of a government which in effect has misled those hirers into believing that their rights would be protected in this parliament, could be protected in this parliament, because the Government would not disclose those arrangements which had been entered into.
Mr Moore: You hypocrite, Wayne. VITAB. VITAB. VITAB. Hypocrisy. VITAB.
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