Report: Inquiry into the NSW Automatic Enrolment Bill 2009

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	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.

Report: Inquiry into the NSW Automatic Enrolment Bill 2009

Submitted by admin on Thu, 01/04/2010 - 15:36

Thursday 25 February 2010,

The Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters tabled its report on the inquiry into the NSW Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Amendment (Automatic Enrolment) Bill 2009 entitled Inquiry into the implications of the Parliamentary Electorates and Elections Amendment (Automatic Enrolment) Act 2009 (NSW) for the conduct of Commonwealth elections.

The two provisions of the Bill on which the Committee reported potential Commonwealth electoral effects were

Automatic enrolment provisions

and

Provisions enabling eligible persons to enrol and cast a provisional
vote on polling day

More here...

AUSTRALIAN ELECTORAL COMMISSION SUBMISSION

The Australian Electoral Commission made a submission to this inquiry of which the chief reccomendations were

4.1 The AEC recommends that the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 be amended to
allow the AEC to automatically enrol electors on the basis of data provided by trusted
agencies.
4.2 The AEC recommends that the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 be amended to
allow for electors to enrol on election day and cast provisional votes on production of
suitable evidence of identity to the AEC.
4.3 The AEC recommends that complementary amendments be made to the
Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 as appropriate.

.PDF of this submission available here

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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

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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.