Vale The Hon Jim Carlton, AO, ART director
The Accountability Round Table mourns the passing of The Honorable Jim Carlton, AO. Jim died suddenly on Christmas Eve, after spending the day with his family. Jim was a vigorous and engaged director of the Accountability Round...
IBAC to get beefed-up powers
In a move long awaited by ART, the Government announced on 29 November 2015 that Victorian IBAC watchdog is finally to get the necessary teeth to investigate MPs, judges and public servants with legislation to be presented in...
Barry Jones on Democracy in Australia – Two Papers
Barry Jones, a longstanding member of Accountability Round Table has written two papers on the state of democracy in Australia from two different perspectives. These provide a context for openness and accountability in...
“Buying Power” – Audio of the ICAN event
Here are audio files of the three speakers at the recent "Buying power" ICAN event on the many negative effects of political donations on political decision making. Mr Royce Millar is a Fairfax investigative journalist with a...
Our priorities for research and campaigns
- Exposing the role of money and the influence of lobbying and reducing their hold on government and political culture
- Promoting openness in government, and how decisions are influenced and made
- Re-asserting the Parliament’s critical but constructive role.
- Battling the tide of mis- and dis-information.
ART policy - Freedom of Information
A powerful and independent freedom of information scheme must be a central feature of a functional democracy, an essential step toward enhancing transparency and accountability.
The existing basis of FOI legislation laid down in the 1980s is sound – yet over the last decade the culture has become one of secrecy and obstruction. Statutory time limits are commonly breached and redactions are the norm.
An Integrity System for Australia
The reforms in brief:
A National Integrity System that is proactive, preventive, coordinated and cooperative | A National Integrity Commission that is independent, has investigative powers, makes recommendations and findings of fact, can investigate the judiciary | Parliamentary Integrity Commissioner
Political donations regime & election funding
The reforms in brief:
Caps of ~$1,000 on donations | Real time disclosure | Limits on election campaign expenditure incl. third party entities | Sanctions for electoral breaches | An independent body for public funding | Laws that require truth in political advertising
Civil society engagement
The reforms in brief:
support civic participation in the OGP | value public participation in decisions and policy | recognise the benefits of public engagement, including that of women | make policy and decisions more transparent | allow NFPs freedom of expression, association and opinion | greater collaboration
see more here …
Data in politics & government
The reforms in brief:
Ban covert digital techniques of influence | remove electoral & privacy act exemptions | supervise government data collection | recognise that personal data cannot be de-identified | control profiling for political use | control government buying-in data | cover social media in advertising rules | ban government data on-selling | citizen opt-in rights
Lobbyists
The reforms in brief:
In-house lobbyists incl. in Register | matters discussed disclosed | documents made public | funds, gifts & events declared | oversight of Code & Register by the National Integrity System | campaign donations & expenditure limits | more public engagement in decisions | Senate role in countering undue influence
Integrity Lecture, Awards
Submissions
National Integrity Commission, OAIC, OGP