The Tasmanian government is committing to backing 32 of the 43 recommendations in an independent review of the state’s right to information system, promising cultural change and improved transparency.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff has today outlined the government’s response to the Getting Back on Track review, conducted by professors Tim McCormack and Rick Snell, which found Tasmania’s RTI framework was undermined by a “prevailing culture” of “risk adverse” government decision-making.
“The next phase of the Government’s ongoing transparency agenda is now underway, with a staged program of reforms being implemented to strengthen transparency, improve agency capability and modernise the RTI system,” Rockliff said.
The government’s response prioritises operational improvements and cultural change, including stronger training for RTI officers and improved consistency across agencies.
“Consistent with Australian Government practice, we will also explore mechanisms for the release of Cabinet information after 20 years,” Rockliff said.
The independent review had recommended the automatic release after just 10 years, along with a call for cabinet submissions, agendas and decision papers to be proactively released online within 30 days of a final decision.
“There has been a demonstrable failure to treat RTI as a fundamental and ongoing public policy program,” the report read.
Rockliff says the government had been delivering on its “significant transparency agenda” since coming into power in 2014.
“Diary disclosures, routine information across departments and gift registers are among some of the important improvements we’ve made to Government transparency and accountability.”
He said a “cross-agency governance framework”, including a new RTI Improvement Steering Committee, will oversee the implementation of the report’s recommendations.
The government’s full response will be tabled in state parliament today.
It comes as a separate Ombudsman investigation found error rates of 30 to 40% in personal information handling across audited agencies, none of which had detected the problems themselves.
Greens MLC Cassy O’Connor last week called the findings from the investigation “incredibly concerning”.
“Information which should be released is being kept behind closed doors and personal information which should be protected is being released improperly,” she said.
Independent MLC Meg Webb had called for a moratorium on budget cuts to the Ombudsman’s office.
“These findings are huge red flags which cannot be ignored,” Webb said.
