Book Launch! KEEPING THEM HONEST – Stephen Charles and Catherine Williams
KEEPING THEM HONEST: the case for a genuine national integrity commission and other vital democratic reforms, a new book by Stephen Charles and Catherine Williams was launched on Monday 4th April. See below for Stephen Charles...
Setting Caps on Campaign Funding and Expenditure.
This briefing paper sets out ART's thinking on the twin problems of funding election campaigns - the scramble for donations to provide the wherewithal for candidates to run, and the continual escalation of the costs of running a...
Open Government Partnership – warning to Australia!
The Open Government Partnership (OGP), is an international organisation which now includes 78 countries and 76 local governments. Its purpose is to encourage governments to be more open, responsive and accountable to their...
The Case for a National Integrity Commission
This article by Stephen Charles first appeared in the Saturday Paper of February 5 — 11, 2022 | No. 385 Thanks to Erik Jensen of the Saturday Paper for permission to republish. Stephen Charles is a retired judge of the...
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