Page 3449 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 17 August 2011
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Mr Speaker, I said at the outset that the government will be supporting this motion along with these amendments. It reflects a program of work that is already in train. It is very important work. It is work that I have been focusing on in my short time as Chief Minister. I will be very happy to report progress on this resolution, if passed by the Assembly, in accordance with the specified time frames.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (7.04): I will start my comments by quoting from today’s editorial from the Australian:
When it comes to the business of government, too much information is barely enough.
They talk about a commonwealth department and their concerns with someone who is making requests to that department under the Freedom of Information Act—under the new, open and transparent Freedom of Information Act that was much touted by the commonwealth and has been reflected upon at some length by the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety. We have advocated a similar approach here in the ACT.
The more that I am involved in the process of legislation and observing the operations of government, the more I see that it does not matter how good the piece of legislation is, how schmick the new building is, how fantastic the new piece of machinery is; the thing that is really important is the quality of the intent of the leadership, the real leadership that you have. For instance, the Rudd-Gillard government introduced a range of changes to FOI which were much vaunted and had been praised by the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety in their inquiry.
But we come to the point here where we have a commonwealth department which has labelled a member of the public a vexatious seeker of information under the Freedom of Information Act. Quite frankly—and the point that goes on to be made by the Australian—if the government was actually open and accountable, people would not have to make those requests. When the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety talked about a push model of access to information, that is what we were talking about. The commonwealth government talked about it, and since there has been a change of Chief Minister there has been a renewed interest in these things here in the ACT. But we have to remember that Mr Stanhope, when he was the Leader of the Opposition, was very keen on openness and accountability in government.
I think it is time that we actually looked back, just over the last few years, at the lack of openness and accountability. Of course, there is the biggie. Since 2006 there has been a constant call for access to the Costello report. The Costello report resulted in seismic changes in the school system in the ACT, huge changes to the tax system in the ACT and significant other changes to the budget in 2006, but the government hides behind cabinet-in-confidence.
By contrast, I think that I must have been quite persuasive yesterday when I asked for, again, a copy of the Oakton report in relation to the operation of Bimberi. Minister
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