ART
The Accountability Round Table is a non-partisan group of citizens with diverse backgrounds (journalists, lawyers, academics, former politicians and judges) and extensive experience in parliament, government and the courts. The Round Table is dedicated to improving...
Rorts register
The Accountability Round Table has developed a register of notable recent rorts or alleged rorts at Federal and State level. We define a rort as ‘any arrangement or practice that enables, or results in, the misuse of public resources, assets or powers for personal or...
Integrity Bill workshop
This Workshop on 29 January is your opportunity to contribute to ART’s submission on the Commonwealth Integrity Commission Bill (CIC) to the Attorney-General’s Department. The workshop is your opportunity to contribute to ART's submission on the Commonwealth Integrity...
Integrity Commission Bill workshop, 29 Jan
This workshop is your opportunity to contribute to ART's submission to the Commonwealth Integrity Commission Bill (CIC) to the Attorney-General's Department Sarah Chidgey (Deputy Secretary, Attorney General's Department) will outline the Bill Stephen Charles (lead...
Accountability in crisis
2020 AGM address by Chair, Fiona McLeod, AO SC In the interests of transparency, I must begin with a disclosure. Before my engagement with the Open government partnership and ART (and for a time Transparency International Australia) I had very limited exposure - I...
Witness K and Bernard Collaery
An unjust prosecution gets even worse, Spencer Zifcak The prosecution of former ACT Attorney-General, Bernard Collaery, and his client, Witness K, continues to play itself out before the ACT Supreme Court. This is a legal fiasco of the first order. The prosecution...
Premier Berejiklian; ‘I don’t need to know’, not good enough
On ABC Radio National this morning ART Chair, Fiona McLeod SC, said: That statement - I don’t need to know - does suggest she [Gladys Berejiklian] is seeking to distance herself from information that might compromise her and the problem is that when politicians do...
Our AGM – 21 Oct
The Accountability Round Table will hold its AGM on Wednesday 21 October - 5 pm for ART members and 5.30 pm for those who would like to join for the address by ART Chair, Fiona McLeod SC AO. She will give us her insights on: Accountability in a time of crisis. The...
Our Public Service, Our Future – ART commentary on Government response
There is much in this report that is useful in summarising the state of the Australian Public Service, both its strengths and weaknesses. It also reflects recent disquiet about secrecy, abuse of process, and public mistrust. Most recommendations are rather bland, at...
Bernard Collaery’s case threatens freedom of expression
Professor Zifcak says: The real problem for Witness K and Collaery is that section 39 of the Intelligence Services Act has no public interest defence, in other words, they can’t argue that disclosing the confidential information was done in the public interest, and...
Senate Select Committee on COVID-19. ART Submission
This submission to the Senate Select Committee on COVID-19 was made by Accountability Round table on 27 May 2020. It addresses the absence of independent scrutiny of government actions during the period of the Covid19 crisis. In particular, the exclusion of...