The Liberal’s integrity report card out today effectively reads ‘lacks initiative, can do much better’ with its next test being to support a motion I’m tabling next week requiring Cabinet submissions and briefing papers to be proactively released within 30 days of a final decision.
The Centre for Public Integrity’s scorecard shows some progress where the government has been pressured or forced into action rather than taking proactive steps to increase transparency and integrity.
Release of ministerial diaries, more transparency about senior public service appointments and supporting integrity in how Parliament itself works, are all areas of progress.
The government’s review of Right to Information is still awaiting a response.
Fails include lobbying oversight after the government shelved plans for a robust lobbying code of conduct and there’s been silence since.
This is a key reform for a government that takes its running orders from the likes of developers, pokies barons, the AFL, and the construction industry.
Another fail is the government’s undermining and under-resourcing of integrity bodies, chiefly the Integrity Commission and brazenly dismissing the Auditor General’s findings of TT Line’s insolvency as mere opinion and denying him access to cabinet documents to investigate the Wilkinsons Point sale.
The Wilkinsons Point sale is a a classic example of where the disclosure of Cabinet papers would provide the opportunity for much needed scrutiny of government decisions. The government ultimately decided to ignore the advice from the Department of Premier and Cabinet and the Department of State Growth and that advice has not been released.
Supporting my motion will be the first test of the government’s interest in ensuring Tasmanians can have trust in decision making.