Page 2433 - Week 06 - Thursday, 23 June 2011
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Perhaps Mr Corbell should remember that line. “Labor understands that good government does not bully.” When you are held to account, it is not personal, but you have an obligation to answer and not bully back. So often, particularly with Mr Corbell, he thinks he is a bully but it is not bullying. Let me continue:
Labor understands that good government does not bully. It leads. Good government accepts criticism. Good government has the courage to allow itself to be closely scrutinised.
It did not this morning. Good government died this morning with the opportunity to scrutinise Mr Corbell’s department and his behaviour over the case of Mr Buchanan. It was not courageous at all, this morning. Let me continue:
It conducts its operations in an open, honest and accountable manner, not in secret.
We conducted the inquiry into bullying in the obstetrics ward in secret, because nobody has seen those reports and they still remain secret. If Ms Gallagher is serious about what she is proposing here, she will stop acting in secret and start acting in the open.
What happens if we look at things like the open government website? In a way Canberra Connect is already there. What we did when we set up Canberra Connect was a start. There were many things to follow, including all government transactions online—lots of government information online: policy, legislation and regulation all linked and online. That has not happened. It has not been followed through. They did not like Canberra Connect because the Liberals set it up. They had to keep it because they knew the people of Canberra enjoyed having it there.
But in effect, the open government website is already there. It is called Canberra Connect. Perhaps we can utilise it better. Ms Le Couteur, you would know this. There are some great Canberra firms. In particular, for instance, SoftLaw has some exceptional software which would allow you to put exactly what Ms Gallagher was talking about into one spot. The SoftLaw software allows you to link the policy and the supporting documents—link the policy to the black-letter law, to the schedules, to the regulation. So if you want to know about government and how government behaves, you can know it right from what was the government’s thinking when it started the process all the way through to how it affects you as an individual. You can then cross-reference that to the budget documents. Local firms like SoftLaw have good software. There are a number of bits of software that you could use.
If you are serious about this, we will see the calibre of the website. I am surprised to say that, since she has taken over, we can do this in a couple of months—have this up and running properly. You raised concerns, Madam Assistant Speaker; I have similar concerns about what will be the quality of this.
Let me turn to FOI. It is interesting to hear yet again that Ms Gallagher, leading a Labor government, is going to reform FOI. Guess what? Under the code of good government back in 2001, what was the Labor commitment? No 15: overhaul the FOI
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