About Us

	Recently Added
	Submission to Operation Halifax investigation into lobbying of public officials and public authorities in NSW and the related procedures and regulatory system. Political parties' responses to our two election 2010 questions on integrity and transparency Blagojevich and Legal Bribery - On the mess the USA campaign financing system has become Law Council of Australia's poll of Major Party's electoral positions on key legal issues Book Launch "Money and Politics: The Democracy We Can’t Afford Parliament of NSW Final Report: Public funding of Election Campaigns 23 March 2010 Government announces whistleblower protection scheme JOE LUDWIG 17 March 2010 Button Missen Parliamentary Integrity Awards Launch Speech - Tony Fizgerald QC No favourites in the pollie Oscars Engage, Getting on with Government 2.0: Report of the Government 2.0 taskforce LobbyLens

	ART About Us
	ACCOUNTABILITY ROUND TABLE - ABOUT US The Accountability Round Table is a non-partisan group of citizens with diverse backgrounds (academics, lawyers, politicians, journalists, authors) who are gravely concerned with the current erosion of honesty and integrity of our democratic parliamentary and governmental process. The Accountability Round Table is dedicated, in particular, to the resurrection and enlivening of the principle of ministerial accountability, that is the obligation of government ministers to be answerable and accountable the Parliament for the actions, inactions, defaults and carelessness, not only of the ministers themselves but also of all those in the minister’s office (such as advisers) and in the departments and agencies of which the ministers are head. It is an integral part of Australia’s democratic parliamentary structure that Ministers of State be members of the Parliament in which they are answerable - i.e. accountable, and accountable for performance of themselves and their subordinates. It is critical that this accountability be transparent, open and immune from hidden influences. The Accountability Round Table is mindful of the following observation of the 1976 Royal Commission (the Coombs Commission) on Australian Government administration; The evidence tends to suggest rather that while ministers continue to be held accountable to Parliament in the sense of being obligated to answer to it when Parliament so demands , and to indicate corrective action if that is for , they themselves are not held culpable – and in consequence bound to resign or suffer dismissal – unless the action which stands condemned was theirs, or taken on their direction, or was action which they ought obviously to have been concerned.

The Accountability Round Table is a non-partisan group of citizens with diverse backgrounds (academics, lawyers, politicians, journalists, authors) who are gravely concerned with the current erosion of honesty and integrity of our democratic parliamentary and governmental process.
The Accountability Round Table is dedicated, in particular, to the resurrection and enlivening of the principle of ministerial accountability, that is the obligation of government ministers to be answerable and accountable the Parliament for the actions, inactions, defaults and carelessness, not only of the ministers themselves but also of all those in the minister’s office (such as advisers) and in the departments and agencies of which the ministers are head.

It is an integral part of Australia’s democratic parliamentary structure that Ministers of State be members of the Parliament in which they are answerable - i.e. accountable, and accountable for performance of themselves and their subordinates. It is critical that this accountability be transparent, open and immune from hidden influences.

The Accountability Round Table is mindful of the following observation of the 1976 Royal Commission (the Coombs Commission) on Australian Government administration;

The evidence tends to suggest rather that while ministers continue to be held accountable to Parliament in the sense of being obligated to answer to it when Parliament so demands , and to indicate corrective action if that is for , they themselves are not held culpable – and in consequence bound to resign or suffer dismissal – unless the action which stands condemned was theirs, or taken on their direction, or was action which they ought obviously to have been concerned.

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Executive Members

Lyn Allison, Former Senator and former Leader of the Australian Democrats.
The Hon Jim Carlton, AO, Former Federal Minister for Health (Fraser government), Former Secretary General of Australian Red Cross
The Hon Dr Ken Coghill, Former Speaker (Legislative Assembly, Victoria) (Cain & Kirner governments) Associate Professor, Business and Economics, Monash University
Harry Evans, Former Clerk of the Senate, Parliament of Australia..
Barry Everingham, Melbourne based author, broadcaster and journalist.
The Hon Alan Goldberg, AO, QC. Former Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, Former President of Victorian Council of Civil Liberties, Former President of the Australian Competition Tribunal.
Bruce Grant, Former High Commissioner in India and Ambassador to Nepal (1973-1976); Chairman Australia-Indonesia Institute 1988-1991. Author.
Ms Genevieve Grant, Melbourne University Law School
The Hon Alan Hunt, AM, Former Victorian Minister for Local Government, Former Victorian Minister for Planning and Former Victorian Minister for Education (Served in Bolte, Hamer and Thompson governments)
Prue Innes, Former Age Journalist; Member of the Australian Press Council.
The Hon Dr Barry Jones AO, FAA, FAHA, FTSE, FASSA, FACE. Former Federal Minister for Science and Technology Former Minister for Science, Customs and Small Business.. (Hawke Government). Former Victorian Labor Member of Parliament (in opposition during the Hamer Government)
Anne Mancini, Author; Secondary School and CAE Teacher
The Hon Dr Race Mathews Former Federal member for Casey, (Whitlam government) Former Victorian Minister for Community Services (Cain government); Former Victorian Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister for the Arts (Cain government), Senior Research Fellow Monash University.
Professor Barbara Norman, Foundation Chair, Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Business and Government, University of Canberra
The Hon Kevin Rozzoli, AM, Former Speaker (Legislative Assembly, NSW) (Greiner & Fahey governments); Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Government at the University of Sydney; National President, The Australasian Study of Parliament Group
Angela Smith, former Senior Social Worker in the area of Adoption and Permanent Care of children
The Hon. Tim Smith QC, Former Supreme Court Judge. and former Commissioner of the ALRC and VLRC, presently Adjunct Professor, Monash University.
Julia Thornton, Research Associate, Social Science: School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, RMIT University.
Professor Emeritus David Yencken, AO. Chair of The Australian Collaboration
Professor Spencer Zifcak, Allan Myers Chair in Law, Australian Catholic University; Director of the Institute of Legal Studies, Australian Catholic University; Barrister and Solicitor, Supreme Court of Victoria

Our Publications

CRUCIAL TO ENSURE OPEN GOVERNMENT

Submitted by admin on Fri, 26/11/2010 - 09:35

by Tim Smith.

The full version here, published as an edited opinion piece, The Age Friday November 26th 2010.

Tim Colebatch recently criticised the Brumby Government as having “refused to run an open government” (Ballot box overflowing with choice, The Age November 23, 2010). The editor of the Sunday Age (21 November), expressed a reluctance to choose between Labor or the Coalition and concluded "if we were put up against a wall, we would say, maybe Labor, but it will need to change its ways in a

CORRUPTION - Our Policy

Submitted by admin on Fri, 27/08/2010 - 12:10

August 2010

The Anticorruption reforms that ART would like to see

The risks of corruption have been increased by: the on going increase in government control of information; the ever-increasing need for funding of political campaigns; the methods employed to obtain it and the failure to enact legislation to impose controls; the commercialisation of government services and projects; the development of lobbying and the inadequacies of the attempt to control the activity and make it transparent in a timely manner; and failure to either stop or control the flow of Ministers and their staff to the lobbying industry on retirement from their positions.

DONATIONS - Our policy

Submitted by admin on Fri, 27/08/2010 - 11:06

August 2010

The reforms to political donations that ART would like to see

The Accountability Round Table’s starting premise is that the cost of election campaigns should be borne entirely by the State

THE STATE OF ACCOUNTABILITY As at September 2009

Submitted by admin on Mon, 19/10/2009 - 00:11

September 2009

How close are we to achieving reform?
This document checks the Rudd Government's actions on:

Anticorruption
Greater Accountability of the Executive and strengthening of the role of the Parliament
Electoral Reform
Citizen Engagement and Civil Society
Human Rights

1 attachment

RENEWING ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMENT: Reforming Accountability in Victoria

Submitted by admin on Wed, 10/03/2010 - 10:26

November 2006
The Victorian Legislative Council, which will be reformed with effect from the
general elections on 25 November 2006, has the potential to be a major
instrument of accountability.
This discussion paper canvasses a range of reforms and revisions affecting the
accountability of ministers and governments to Parliament and citizens.

Be Honest Minister - Released July 07 by the Accountability Round Table

Submitted by admin on Sat, 17/10/2009 - 14:45

July 2007

"Be Honest Minister" A proposal to reform Parliamentary accountability

The following assumptions underlie the preparation of this document:

ART Index

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