Page 2745 - Week 08 - Thursday, 11 August 2016
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I am mindful that during the detail stage there will be times when I will be either supporting or opposing particular things with caveats. I will be pointing out the areas that I think the drafters and policy officers need to look at it before this legislation is implemented. That having been said, I consider this unfinished business. I am very proud to be involved in finishing some of this unfinished business here today.
I think that the people of the ACT will benefit significantly from the changes that we will see, not just because of the access of information but because of the change in the way of thinking that we will have in government. When people know that the decisions they make are going to be much more easily reviewable by individuals, I think they will take much more care about the decisions they make and will be much more mindful. This is the whole purpose of open government: to make people more mindful of the decisions they make and the impact they have and whether they have followed due process and taken all the right issues into consideration. What we will do today will set us on the path to a much better system of interchange with the people of the ACT. The people who pay our salaries will be much more able to engage in the process of decision-making. That is a very important thing.
I note the comments from the Attorney-General in relation to the cost of this scheme. It is true to say that the initial set-up, while people get used to it, will impose some costs upon the territory. Over time, as we get used to the whole process and people become more attuned with the guidelines for putting out information, it will become less onerous and therefore less costly. I do not expect that the doom and gloom advice of the government on the ongoing costs year on year will necessarily come to fruition. As more information becomes available there will be less demand for individual freedom of information requests because most of the information that people will be looking for will be on the public record anyhow.
I have struggled through the freedom of information process over many years and I have seen my colleagues struggle, especially in this term. I have seen the work that is being done by Mr Coe, in particular, who on a number of occasions has had to go, at personal expense, to the ACAT to argue for access to documents. I think that we will see less of that in future. That has to be a good thing for government in the ACT. With those few remarks, I endorse the support given by Mr Hanson for this legislation. I congratulate Mr Rattenbury for his persistence in this. I look forward to the detail stage when I am sure we will make the structure slightly better than it is now.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (11.46), in reply: I thank colleagues for their in-principle support for the legislation. I will turn to some of the other remarks as I go on. I believe that this bill is a significant step forward that will improve government transparency. In the lead-up to the election, it is significant that we are setting out for the community our party’s respective positions on how transparent and accountable a government should be and how much the community should be able to participate in government decision-making. I believe that this bill is a first step in cultural change that we do need to have happen. That change encompasses members of this place, the public service and the community, all of whom should believe that the community has a right to know what the government is doing on their behalf and with their money.
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