Page 2139 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 21 June 2011
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If I go to my speech on openness and transparency back in June 2009, I was speaking about the importance of that part of the parliamentary agreement and what was included, apart from those Latimer House principles. I will read that again:
As a result, several changes were made to standing orders, and inquiries were initiated into the feasibility of a parliamentary budget officer …
As you know, that inquiry was held by admin and procedures and, as a result of that, the availability of funding has meant that for the past two years the Select Committee on Estimates has been able to engage outside, independent advice on the budget, which I know has been very much welcomed by all of those members of the last two estimates committees, and by other members who have been able to read that report. So that is one of the ways in which the Greens very clearly have put in place a system so that we can have that outside, expert, independent advice.
I also go to the fact that there were a number of changes to other standing orders and processes around committees and so forth, to ensure that everybody did get a fair go and that there was greater transparency and accountability from the executive. I would like to go to another area in my speech from June 2009, where I said:
The ACT Greens MLAs believe that their first responsibility as members of the Legislative Assembly for the ACT is to the people of Canberra. We gave a commitment before the election to a stable and accountable government. Our accountability reform agenda expands on the principles and guidelines of the Assembly, with specific proposals relevant to the committee system—
as I said—
parliamentary procedures, parliamentary resources and enhanced integrity, including through improved access to information, supportive structures for oversight institutions and improved electoral law. As a result, our capacity in the Assembly to progress reform, to pass legislation, to draw in community and expert evidence, and to hold the government to account from the crossbench has been enhanced by this reform agenda.
That was put into the agreement. If we come to the present, I think the most notable progress on this issue since we last discussed the matter is the recent justice and community safety report into the freedom of information laws. Mrs Dunne, who chairs that committee, would know that we did undertake quite an extensive inquiry, and it is a very comprehensive report into perhaps the most visible or readily identifiable basis of government accountability. Certainly, the recommendations in that report go beyond the traditional request and they pick up on innovations that have been adopted in other Australian jurisdictions and recommended in a range of reports—most notably, the Solomon report into freedom of information in Queensland.
These initiatives include measures such as the proactive disclosure of material and a clear presumption that material will be made available unless there is a clear and demonstrable reason that it is not in the public interest to do so. This is also known as the push model. The Greens, of course, support this initiative and I very much
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