Page 1132 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 3 May 2006
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
secretive Howard government as another chamber of secrets nominee. Mr Bartos also reported that the Western Australian Labor state government has progressively released large sections of its Costello review, including portions of various reports arising from the review.
The government’s claim that the document is a cabinet document and therefore exempt from release is unacceptable. If the report is really cabinet-in-confidence, then why have selected business and union interests been briefed on it? Surely this destroys the privileged status that the government claims for this report.
Unlike other Australian freedom of information acts, the ACT’s Freedom of Information Act does not actually use the words “cabinet documents”, although such documents probably fall into the exemption category of executive documents. The act does not prohibit the release of exempt documents. In fact, it encourages the release of all documents unless there is a strong public interest against doing so. If the government truly believes that there is a good public reason for withholding the report, as opposed to it being merely politically convenient, then let us hear it. Give a reasoned and detailed argument why the document should not be released to those of us who are not on the government’s A list.
The community sector, parents, health workers, teachers and others who may be adversely affected by the report’s recommendations and subsequent budgetary responses would be more likely to accept the need for such responses if they knew the extent and nature of the problem. We need to know how environmental initiatives are likely to fare in the budget. Are the presumptions on which budget cuts are made soundly based? How can we know? How can we do our job as public representatives properly when we do not have the information on which such crucial decisions are made? I know that ACTCOSS has been trying unsuccessfully to get a briefing on the report—I cannot imagine a better recipient for such a briefing—but it cannot.
Democratic government relies on the sharing of information. I am afraid that this government is starting to show the signs of arrogance and secrecy that so many governments tend to exhibit when they have a sure majority. When it came to office this government was a champion of open and transparent government. I applauded it for this and announced from the outset that to keep it to it would be one of my key objectives.
What truth is there in the projected $390 million operating loss figure being bandied about? Someone on the government’s information release A list is obviously keen to fuel this rumour. Merely evincing outrage is not going to stop it. The government has brought this problem unto itself by playing favourites. Or has Mr Costello let it down by telling too much to the business sector, which is, at best, a fair weather friend of the government? Misinformation and rumour feed on ignorance and will ultimately rebound to hurt the government, either by damaging the integrity of its decision-making processes or at the ballot box as people believe the worst aspects of the rumours that will inevitably grow out of an information vacuum. Or does the government believe that it can get away with treating us like mushrooms: kept in the dark and fed on dot, dot, dot?
Before lunch the Chief Minister compared himself to past governments as a justification for not releasing these documents. I never thought I would see the day when Jon Stanhope judged his performance against the benchmark of a Liberal government. If
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .