Page 1107 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 3 May 2006
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MR STEFANIAK (Ginninderra) (12.16): It is amusing to hear the Chief Minister maybe conceding, “Yes, all oppositions do this; I did this myself,” and then refusing to release this document. He mentioned humbug. I do not think I have seen quite so much humbug for some time. Chief Minister, you need to look at your own pronouncements. I quote now from a code of good governance speech you made on 14 March 2001:
We will negotiate with other parties in the Assembly and we will be responsive to the community.
But we will not compromise our integrity. We will lead when necessary and not trade off our position in secret deals.
ACT Labor will abandon the limited, restricted draft Budget process adopted by the Liberals with the usual fanfare two years ago.
That is not to say ACT Labor will draft its Budget behind closed doors or in isolation from the community. But that process will not be the carefully controlled process of the Liberals. We will open debate with the community, rather than contain it to Members of the Assembly. Openness is one of our core values.
You kept pumping openness during the 2001 election campaign. It was meant to be a hallmark of your government. What do we see now? We do not see any openness. It is probably not only in this area but in other areas as well. This has become a very secretive government. There seems to be far less consultation on a lot of issues than there was even perhaps by the Follett government and certainly previous Liberal governments.
I was interested in a point Dr Foskey made yesterday on something as simple as the animal welfare bill. She believed that there was not proper consultation, with the RSPCA being told about a year ago being about the sum total. You relied on a particular advisory group without consulting the community. That, unfortunately, is a hallmark of this particular government. You are being very, very secretive indeed. You have shown that in so many ways, and this is just one other way where you are being secretive.
Professor Bartos said about the Costello report—in fact this is at the top of the article:
The ACT Government’s functional review, an official review funded by the public purse, is vitally important to the future of the territory—and it should be made public.
Mr Stanhope mentioned that he might make some part of it public. Professor Bartos goes on to say:
When public money contributes to an evaluation, review or study, then as a general principle the public should be able to see the report that review produces.
As a general principle. He also referred to cabinet-in-confidence. That is an interesting point. Yes, governments of all persuasions have a nasty tendency to say, “We do not want that released. Let us make it cabinet-in-confidence. That way those documents cannot be released.” In the ACT that is probably going to backfire in some respects, to varying degrees, on all governments because we have that act that says that after
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