Page 3257 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
between the government and the citizens of Canberra for increased participation in governance and collaboration in the everyday business of government.
A number of initiatives are proposed in spring 2011 to further build on the government’s record for making Canberra a better city and for delivering on our priorities. We will effect this with increased openness and transparency and with additional opportunities for the government to listen to the community. Matters to be addressed by new measures include maintaining our emphasis on improving government transparency and taking further positive action regarding sustainability, legal and building reforms, community wellbeing and public safety.
In June this year I made a statement in the Assembly regarding the government’s approach in relation to accountability and open government. While flagging that there will always be some restrictions, I advised that our default position would be that government information becomes available to the community.
As another step in enhancing government openness, amendments are to be made to the Freedom of Information Act 1989 to improve transparency and access to information. It will draw on the commonwealth’s freedom of information amendment act 2010, introduced in November 2010. A range of improvements will be proposed that include a new public interest test for determining FOI applications. The act will encourage open government practices by expanding the public right of access to information.
Better transparency is also to be given to the costing of election commitments. The Election Commitments Costing Bill 2011 and associated guidelines will allow the territory to formalise the Treasury Directorate’s existing costing process. It will strengthen the legislative requirements regarding the provision of financial information to the community during an election and build upon the current process so that election commitments costings occur in a non-partisan and objective manner.
Implementation of national agreements will require legislation to be progressed regarding work safety and business names. Earlier this year the government introduced the Work Health and Safety Bill 2011. It set out national model work health and safety provisions agreed by all jurisdictions with the assistance of Safe Work Australia, a priority, seamless national economy reform. Passage of the bill will in turn require consequential changes to other ACT laws. A proposed Work Safety Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 will repeal earlier work health and safety laws that have been replaced by the new national laws and make consequential changes to other laws that touch on public and worker safety.
Legislation will also be introduced that will make substantial amendments to the Dangerous Substances Act. The purpose of these amendments is to align operational provisions for WorkSafe ACT with the new nationally agreed Work Health and Safety Bill 2011 and to ensure that the regulatory effect of the two acts is complementary and does not overlap. The reformed act will still continue to provide for the regulation of substances such as explosives, security sensitive ammonium nitrate and asbestos.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video