Page 1656 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 7 May 2013
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As a government we are taking a broad approach to enhance the openness of the way we govern, encompassing transparency, participation and collaboration. As Chief Minister I believe that as a first principle information available to the government should be made available for use by the community. While there will always be restrictions here, this is our default position.
Despite the steps we have taken, it will not stop here. We will continue to look for opportunities available to build upon this commitment. We are embracing engagement from the community, the media, researchers, political parties and others, because it connects government to its constituents in a way that has not been possible in the past.
In relation to some of the criticisms from the leader of the—sorry, Mr Seselja in relation to the open government agenda—
Mr Hanson: Ha, ha!
MS GALLAGHER: Sorry, Mr Hanson. That was a genuine slip. Because certain documents may not be released under different criteria, that does not mean that you are not running an open and transparent government. I have said from the beginning that open, accountable and transparent government is not just a free-for-all that means that every piece of paper, every piece of personal information, every piece of commercial information is just released through the parliament to the community. That is not open government. There will be restrictions.
But those restrictions should not just be used in isolated examples to say you should throw the whole thing out because it is not working or to criticise that you are not taking an open government agenda towards the way you do your business, because it is simply not the case.
I accept that it is politically easy to identify individual experiences or circumstances and say, “Because you did not release that, because that mistake happened or because that error appeared, therefore you are hiding something from the community.” That does not accept, I think, the different components of open government, some of the complexities and the fact that people have, in certain circumstances, the right to withhold information on particular grounds. That will always be the case.
But I am very pleased with the way the ACT government is approaching this agenda. I think we have changed a lot in two years, in a relatively short time. I think the community does have more information than they have ever had before and we will continue to make steps to progress that. I think it is the way that all governments should lead. I do not think it is the way all governments operate at the moment. But we learn from other jurisdictions. Some are ahead of us in particular areas and we look to follow. I genuinely do hope to be leading the way, if not in Australia then compared to some of the smaller governments that we see across the world.
This is a priority for us, but I accept that it is a cheap shot to say that if anything is ever withheld or does not meet the political campaigns of the opposition they are going to criticise the open government agenda as failing. I do not think that is the case.
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