WA Government acknowledges need to do better on transparency and accountability

The newly elected minority Liberal-National Party Government in Western Australia, sworn into office yesterday, has a first 100 day plan for government courtesy of this pre-election commitment by the Liberal Party Liberal Plan for the First 100 Days of Government .It's incredibly limited in scope and skinny on detail but at least improved accountability rated a mention:

"Release all available information into the Varanus Island Gas Explosion, not hide it like Labor has done. Introduce legislation for fixed parliamentary terms to stop early elections being called for cynical political purposes. Restore an independent Freedom of Information Commissioner and make information available to the public. Legislate for a proper register to monitor the activities of political lobbyists. Appoint an independent Public Sector Management and Standards Commissioner."

There are additional commitments in the Government Accountability policy statement to revive privacy legislation which has languished in the parliament, to scrap Labor's proposal to replace the merits review powers of the FOI Commissioner with the State Administrative Tribunal and to "review the manner in which Departments are administering the FOI process to ensure that Government is accountable and open in accordance with the spirit of the FOI Act."

90 odd days to go, and counting.