Page 3071 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 24 September 2014
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As indicated by that one example, the vast majority of these go far further than what I am proposing today.
In Australia, Tim Andrews at the Australian Taxpayers Alliance is urging the commonwealth, state, territory and local governments to improve transparency and minimise excessive government interference. The publishing of data about government helps everyone. We demand a high level of disclosure and transparency for political parties but a much weaker set of rules for government. Of course, there are significant differences between government and political parties. However, at least people have a choice about whether they donate to political parties. People have no choice whether they pay taxes or not. We owe it to all taxpayers—that is, all citizens—to disclose how their compulsorily acquired money is being spent.
The bill requires the government to publish details of all government invoices over $10,000. The government currently maintains a contracts register for contracts over $25,000. This is a useful tool and is also a way to ensure that government contracts are open to public scrutiny. The public is entitled to know how taxpayer dollars are being spent. Part of open and accountable government is giving taxpayers access to this information. If the public can see how their money is being spent, they have an opportunity to let government know exactly what they think of this spending. Sometimes governments forget that money does not grow on trees. The money the government has to use comes from taxpayers who have worked hard to earn it. The government should spend that money carefully.
Access to information about government spending has slowly increased in the ACT. The first steps were made in 2000, when it became clear that information about government contracts was not available due to extensive confidentiality clauses. The Public Access to Government Contracts Act required the government to produce a public text version of all contracts over $50,000 within 21 days of their being signed. The public text was required to be made public through paper copies for purchase or electronic copies free of charge.
The requirement to make government contracts available was included in the Government Procurement Act 2001. The government has published contracts on an online register since 2003. The register is searchable, and in many cases a complete copy of the contract is available.
I believe that the cost of implementing the expanded register will be minimal. Unfortunately the Treasurer did not provide details about how many contracts between the value of $10,000 and $25,000 the government enters into each year when I asked him earlier this year. However, I believe that the current register should cope with the increase and once staff are used to the expanded requirements the benefit to the public will outweigh any costs.
The bill introduces notifiable invoices to the Government Procurement Act. A notifiable invoice is an invoice for the prescribed amount or more that is payable for works provided to the territory or a territory entity. The prescribed amount will be $10,000. Whilst there is no magical figure, and all thresholds will have issues with amounts just above and just below, $10,000 is a good start.
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