faulker03

  It's not simply that when Quentin Dempster speaks , things happen. After all The Greens have been on about the need for a Federal anti-corruption commission for years, so too a whole raft of organisations and individuals who don't buy the idea that the government and all its constituent parts and players are unique in the long history of humankind. So while the commission or some other much needed response that tightens things up at the federal level may still be far off in the distance, yesterday some stirring. On the motion of Senators Wang and Madison the Senate took two minutes to vote to establish "the Select Committee relating to the establishment of a National Integrity Commission" to report to the Senate by September 2016 with these terms of reference.  Labor, The Greens and cross bench senators voted for.  None spoke, if you discount a minor intervention by Greens Senator Siewert.  But the vote is a welcome confirmation of Labor's current interest, h

Quentin Dempster in The Saturday Paper   The case for a federal ICAC is compelling. With highly skilled forensic accountants, metadata analysts and IT specialists; phone tap, covert surveillance and search warrant powers to gather evidence; and the power to compel attendance at preliminary in-camera interrogation, a federal commission against corruption could start to correct the myth that there is little or no corruption at the Commonwealth level.... .. Resistance to a federal corruption commission is expected to be intense from within the political parties and the Murdoch press because, as in NSW, its very existence would confront Australia’s corruptible and influence-peddling political and commercial cultures. Examples of corruption will be fobbed off as “just a few bad apples”. As in NSW, such an investigative body will be likened to a “star chamber” or a Russian show trial. But the need and the benefits are manifest..... The NSW ICAC, with a budget of $25 million, assess

The Human Rights Law Center Report Safeguarding Democracy released yesterday  "documents how federal and state governments are adopting new laws and practices that undermine critical components of Australia’s democracy like press freedom, the rule of law, protest rights, NGO advocacy and courts and other institutions. It outlines 38 recommendations to stop the erosion and strengthen our democracy." Is democracy important to you? Are you up for the cause of strengthening and improving democratic practices ?   J oin the like-minded as discussion gets underway about open, transparent government, public integrity, citizen engagement and related topics in the context of development of Australia's Open Government Partnership National Action Plan. Lots of room for your thoughts, ideas, suggestions and observations.  Join the Open Government Partnership Network , or tell the Prime Minister's department directly what you think. 

Important to you? J oin the like-minded as discussion gets underway about public integrity and related topics in the context of develop ment of Australia's Open Government Partnership National Action Plan. Lots of room for your thoughts, ideas, suggestions and observations.  Join the Open Government Partnership Network , or tell the Prime Minister's department directly what you think.  A selection below f rom media commentary in the last few days prompted by the Stuart Robert scandal - following years of deaf ears to calls for reform .  Lenore Taylor (Guardian Australia) on Q&A I think these scandals come and they go, the person resigns if there is enough political pressure but the only thing that will change the system is if we change donation laws and change the relationship between politicians and big money. Katherine Murphy (Guardian Australia) and Mark Riley (Seven Network) on ABC Insiders (at 37 minutes) , in summary: the conduct of the minister in the Robert

Following the ministerial reshuffle on Saturday, Angus T aylor is Assistant Minister to the Prime M inister for Cities and Digital Transition . O n digital government, he replac es Communications Minister Mit c h Fifield appointed last September.  Mr T aylor's T witter a ccount states " Rhodes scholar. Business consulting and agriculture background @ mckinsey and Port Jackson Partners. Passionate about good government" So roll out the red carpet as d iscussion gets underway about access to information, public data, public integrity, use of technology, better services and public resources, in the context of developing Australia's Open Government Partnership N ational Action P lan. Lots o f roo m for your thoughts, ideas, suggestions and observations. J oin the Open Government Partnership Network , or tell the Prime Minister's d epartment directly what you think. On access to government data, below t wo reports about opportunities for giant steps

Attorney General Brandis told Senate Estimates this week that the government position on the future of the Office of Australian Information Commissioner has not changed. As Senator Brandis recounted the government announced in May 2014 that the office would be abolished; it has been made clear the Senate would not pass the bill to achieve this outcome; the governmernt has not brought the bill  (on the Senate Bills list since October 2014) on for a vote; the FOI functions of the office were allocated $1.7 million this financial year. As to where to from here: "The circumstances are that the government has an intention, which it has declared, for reasons which it has explained, but that intention cannot be given effect to. So the arrangements continue as they are for the time being."  The transcript for the hearing is at pages 44-49 in the Hansard . When Senator Collins asked how this squared with the decision to join the Open Government Partnership and an accompanying annou

Ross Gittins in the Sydney Morning Herald writes about a new report published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Financing Democracy: Funding of political parties and election campaigns and the risk of policy capture, and goes on to highlight weaknesses in Federal Government rules, ... our electoral commission..reported on political donations only last week. The donations it informed us of had been made up to 19 months earlier. Even so, the figures may not be complete. There is little penalty for late disclosure. Parties are not required to disclose donations under $12,800, and buying a seat at a dinner table with a minister is not classed as a donation. The OECD report says public reporting of donations should be timely, reliable, accessible and digitally searchable. Why? To make it easier for civil society groups and the media to be effective watchdogs. Perhaps that's why we don't do it." Main Findings of the report: Finance is a

A selection of editorial opinion follows. Contrast these sentiments with the absence of any sign of interest in reform from the Federal Government and the observation by Gary Gray, Shadow Special Minister of State on Sunday in conversation with Jonathon Green on Radio National that Australia has the best system of disclosures in the world.  Yes, truly. Crikey Editorial 1 February Every year we go through the same shabby ritual: up to 19 months after some of them have been made, we finally learn who is trying to curry favour with our political parties with donations. Or rather, we learn about some of the donors. Courtesy of donation disclosure laws that are a relic of the Howard era, parties and donors are not required to disclose donations of under $13,000 (although to its credit the ALP has consistently reported all donations over $1000, as the Greens now do as well). Moreover, there are huge loopholes in the definition of donations. For example, “purchasing” a good or service from a