Key Points
After ten years under the Liberals, trust in politics is at an all-time low and transparency in our Government is worse than ever. Tasmania is known as the secret state.
Integrity in government and our public institutions is foundational and must underpin everything that governments do.
A Rebecca White Labor Government will take immediate action to reverse the culture of secrecy and make Tasmania a best practice example of transparency and accountability.
Labor's Plan for Integrity will:
- Reform our political donation laws to increase transparency of election donations and impose spending caps on elections.
- Deliver an Integrity Commission with teeth, with the jurisdiction and resourcing it needs to properly do its work.
- Make our RTI system work again . reverse the culture of hiding government information.
- Implement the Commission of Inquiry's recommendations around statutory officers and public institutions.
- Get lobbyists out of decision making.
- Protect whistleblowers and end the culture against reporting issues and making complaints within the State Service.
Why we need it
Labor recognises the degradation of trust that has occurred under the Liberal Government and is committed to restoring trust in public institutions.
“Integrity in government and trust in politics is foundational. It must underpin everything that governments do”
Tasmania’s Integrity Commission has held no public hearings. Our Right to Information process is the slowest and least transparent in the country. The Ombudsman’s office faces endless delays, and our laws around political donations are the worst in the country.
The recent Commission of Inquiry has clearly demonstrated the consequences a lack of transparency, where injustices can be covered up and people can’t safely raise information. A Labor Government will do everything we can to stop that ever happening again.
The details
Labor’s Plan to restore integrity in politics will:
1. Reform our political donation laws
Tasmania has the weakest donation laws in the country. Elections should be about the parties and candidates with the best policies, not the deepest pockets. Labor will level the playing field and require:
- All donations over $1000 to be disclosed publicly (cumulative for smaller donations from a single source)
- Real time disclosure – monthly outside the election campaign and weekly within it
- Spending caps for political parties and candidates
- Truth in political advertising laws
2. An Integrity Commission with Teeth
The Integrity Commission is virtually powerless and unable to investigate major breaches of trust and misconduct when they should be able to. The Liberal Government has spent the last eight years ignoring the recommendations of a Review that found that the Commission needs serious reform.
A Labor Government will get on with implementing the recommendations of that Review, revise the Commission’s model and deliver one that has teeth and the powers to hold public officials to account as the Tasmanian public rightly expect.
We’ll also increase its funding by $885,000 per annum, so they can get on with the job as this important reform work takes place.
3. Make our Right to Information system work
The Liberals have politicised our Right to Information process. The law is clear – governments should disclose as much information as possible proactively and under the Right to Information (RTI) process. But the government’s reflex action is always to hide information that should be public and refuse to release it under RTI.
Labor will launch a review our Right to Information process. It will investigate the way Right to Information requests are handled within Government, look at existing exemptions for disclosure, and the review role of the Ombudsman and TasCAT .
A Rebecca White Labor Government will also be proactive by proactively disclosing more information, making sure departments adhere to the Act and exemptions are not abused. We will also ensure public officials have the training and support they need to understand their obligations under the Act.
We will also properly address the backlog of RTI reviews in the Ombudsman’s office.
4. Better accountability for public institutions
The Ombudsman holds an important and respected role in reviewing decisions of government, but wait times are out of control and backlogs are through the roof.
A Labor Government will address this making sure they have the structures, jurisdiction and resources they need to get the unacceptable delays under control.
We will also implement the Commission of Inquiry recommendation to create a separate statutory officer of Health Complains Commissioner, and ensure each statutory office holder also has an educative role so agencies, organisations and the public understand their rights and obligations.
5. Keeping lobbyists out of decision-making
Under the Liberals, lobbyists have far too much power and control.
Labor will ensure:
- Mandatory disclosure of lobbyist meetings with politicians, their offices and senior officials
- A broadening of rules to including in-house lobbyists
- A total ban on gifts from lobbyists
- A ban on success fees for lobbyists
- A twelve-month cooling-off period for ministerial staff lobbying in the portfolio they worked in
- End the Liberals’ practice of lobbyists working in Government offices.
6. Fixing the culture inside government
The Commission of Inquiry has laid bare so many areas where the systems of government have totally let down the community, victim survivors as well as workers in the system.
Labor will reform the complaint systems inside government agencies to create a culture of safety in reporting, protecting whistle blowers and removing the fear of retribution or reprisal for rightly raising issues of concern.
Labor will ensure public servants have the right to speak out freely by amending relevant policies and legislation, to offer protections to workers. Hearing more from our workers can only improve public policy and Labor recognises that we should be supporting our workers, not threatening them.