It has been found WA's Freedom of Information laws are backward and deficient in the wake of a recent review. FOI experts warned that WA's accountability laws were lagging behind the rest of the country. The state has not had a substantive information commissioner appointed in four years.
The decision-making powers had been passed to the State Administrative Tribunal. The FOI regime should be based on the premise, that all information is public unless it is contrary to the public interest.
In WA amendments to the FOI Act were introduced into State Parliament a year ago with minimal public consultation (I wonder why), and no wide-ranging review of the 15-year-old Act. WA was described by a lecturer from Murdoch University, as lagging in the back water and is getting towards embarrassing.
So it appears if this Amendment Bill passes through the Upper House, the minister will succeed to undermine the capacity of the information commissioner model. Is Mr McGinty's aim to abolish in a bid to further downgrade the government's public accountability and openness?
1 comment:
Aren't you expecting a little to much?
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