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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Transparency for parliament needs consideration

Good on Labor Member for Franklin in the Tasmanian Parliament Daniel Hulme for raising for consideration whether the state's Freedom of Information Act now under review should be extended to cover the parliament itself. Of course it should in Tassie and elsewhere, despite the fact that most parliamentarians seem to show no interest. (Update: of course the issue is information concerning the administrative functions of parliament, not correspondence with constituents as made clear in this discussion on ABC Hobart this morning with Rick Snell-at 13.33 to 7.10)

In Queensland after much introspection about governance standards following the conviction of former minister Nuttall, no one appears to have raised the issue that the just passed Right to Information Act doesn't cover parliament or parliamentarians. While it would not stop the Nuttalls, it would add a layer of transparency that would modify the climate that gives rise to this sort of skulduggery.

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