FREEDOM OF INFORMATION Open Government Australia in its Draft National Action Plan includes Commitment 3.1 – Information management and access laws for the 21st century. At present the draft commitment reads; “We will ensure our information access laws are modern and appropriate

AN AMBITIOUS NATIONAL INTEGRITY FRAMEWORK Open Government Partnership Australia is developing a National Action Plan. The current Draft Plan  (as a subset of the commitment in theme 4, to Integrity in the public sector) now includes a commitment to a National Integrity Framework. Its

OGP – NATIONAL ACTION PLAN – POLITICAL DONATIONS This second submission from Accountability Round Table suggesting changes to the Open Government Partnership Draft National Action Plan addresses Commitment 4.1, the commitment to examine the ‘framework of donations to polit

OGP NATIONAL ACTION PLAN. EXPLAINER. The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. It currently

The Accountability Round Table continues to be concerned about the reduced state of the Federal Freedom of Information Act and its implementation. The role of the freedom of information Commissioner remains vacant and has been vacant for some 22 months. The submission below is a suppl

On 24 February 2016, the Senate resolved to establish a Select Committee on the establishment of a National Integrity Commission.  This Select Committee was established to inquire into whether a national integrity commission should be established to address institutional, organisation

Submission from the Accountability Round Table to the Interim Working Group Posted on September 5, 2016 by ogpteam This is a full reproduction of a submission received from the Accountability Round Table on 4 September 2016. On Saturday, the AGM of the Accountability Round Table Ltd t

Accountability Round Table has critiqued the amendments to the IBAC legislation proposed for May 2016. “Before the 2014 election, the then Labor opposition indicated that, if elected, it would amend the IBAC Act by the inclusion of the offence of misconduct in public office in t

Whistleblower protection in the Public Service is covered by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 (PID Act).  The PID Act came into operation in January 2014 to encourage public officials to disclose suspected wrongdoing in the Commonwealth public sector. The Commonwealth Ombudsman

In January, Accountability Round Table made a submission to The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission Committee. This committee is a joint investigatory committee of the Parliament of Victoria and has a number of functions including monitoring, reviewing and reporting to

ART has recently made a previous submission to the Victorian Government Do we have a corruption problem in Victoria? The submission below is our second on the subject of Victorian Government Integrity System Reform (see category at right). Our letter to Gavin Jennings calls for; The t

Recently ART has written to the Special Minister of State, the Hon. Gavin Jennings, to explore the question, “Do we have a corruption problem in Victoria?” This question has not been explored for some time. Corruption is an ever present threat, especially where large amoun

ART, via David Solomon, Chair, Queensland Committee of the Accountability Round Table, has made a submission to the Inquiry into the Parliament of Queensland and Other Acts Amendment Bill 2015. The website of the Queensland Inquiry best explains the context. “On 27 March 2015 th

Accountability Round Table is a proponent of strong Freedom of Information provisions at every level of government. We were concerned at the apparent watering down of FOI provisions at the Federal level by amendment to the Freedom of Information Act. The Bill in question was the Freed

The Australian Commission For Law Enforcement Integrity is the federal body tasked with supporting the Integrity Commissioner to provide independent assurance to government about the integrity of prescribed law enforcement agencies and their staff members.  ACLEI’s primary role

On 28 March 2013 the Hon. Ian Callinan AC and Professor Aroney submitted their Review of the Crime and Misconduct Commission Act 2001 to the Queensland Parliament. This review made several recommendations for alteration of the Act. In response, the ART made a  Submission to the Queens

Accountability Round Table has sent to the Parliament of Australia, Standing Committee of Privileges and Members’ Interests, a proposal for a Code of Conduct to be adopted by all parliamentarians. We argue that the absence of such a Code has resulted in continuing uncertainty for Memb

Inquiry into the Conduct of the 2010 Victorian State Election Our submission was made to the Victorian Joint Investigatory Committee – Electoral Matters by The Hon Ken Coghill.  Our submission can be found here. The details of the inquiry can be found on this Parliament of Victo