The Examiner: Tasmanian: Wednesday, 30 June 2021.
Labor says the Liberal government has created a culture of secrecy within its public agencies and wants Right to Information laws changed to make it harder for the state to restrict information.
The party tabled two changes to the Right to Information Act, the first of these would make it easier for RTI requests, about tourism developments on public land, World Heritage Areas, national parks and other reserves, to be released.
This would occur by preventing the government from relying on public interest exemptions that allow it to restrict information based on commercial confidence.
The second would allow RTI applicants, whose requests have been denied, to apply to the Ombudsman to have decisions reviewed.
A Liberal government spokesman said it was proactive in routinely releasing information.
Labor's Ella Haddad said the Right to Information Amendments Bill would make simple changes to current laws so the government could no longer refuse to release information relating to the use and development of public lands.
"We know that any time there is going to be developments in public spaces it is in the public's interest to know about that, but this government has established a process that is not transparent," she said.
"The other change would remove internal review process from the Act...we would be getting rid of that to make sure that people could go straight to the Ombudsman for a review."
Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesman Greg Barns said current legislation has a commercial-in-confidence exemption that was being used for RTI requests relating to proposed developments in World Heritage Areas.
"If you applied to get a document, they would be exempted under the RTI legislation because they would be said to be commercial-in-confidence. What we are arguing is that it is important to have complete transparency around any incursion about World Heritage areas," Mr Barns said.
"It is about transparency in government ... any developments in those areas should be subject to full disclosure and not exempted and allowed to fly under the radar as is the case currently,"
A government spokesman said the Liberals were committed to transparent and honest processes, and have routinely released information.
"The Auditor-General's recent performance audit of the EOI process found there was no evidence to support Labor's allegations of undue secrecy and that - in fact - the publication of information on recommended proposals had been sufficiently timely and appropriately handled," he said.
"Established process criteria and guiding principles were fundamentally sound and well supported by reference to authoritative guidance on eco-tourism."
Labor says the Liberal government has created a culture of secrecy within its public agencies and wants Right to Information laws changed to make it harder for the state to restrict information.
The party tabled two changes to the Right to Information Act, the first of these would make it easier for RTI requests, about tourism developments on public land, World Heritage Areas, national parks and other reserves, to be released.
This would occur by preventing the government from relying on public interest exemptions that allow it to restrict information based on commercial confidence.
The second would allow RTI applicants, whose requests have been denied, to apply to the Ombudsman to have decisions reviewed.
A Liberal government spokesman said it was proactive in routinely releasing information.
Labor's Ella Haddad said the Right to Information Amendments Bill would make simple changes to current laws so the government could no longer refuse to release information relating to the use and development of public lands.
"We know that any time there is going to be developments in public spaces it is in the public's interest to know about that, but this government has established a process that is not transparent," she said.
"The other change would remove internal review process from the Act...we would be getting rid of that to make sure that people could go straight to the Ombudsman for a review."
Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesman Greg Barns said current legislation has a commercial-in-confidence exemption that was being used for RTI requests relating to proposed developments in World Heritage Areas.
"If you applied to get a document, they would be exempted under the RTI legislation because they would be said to be commercial-in-confidence. What we are arguing is that it is important to have complete transparency around any incursion about World Heritage areas," Mr Barns said.
"It is about transparency in government ... any developments in those areas should be subject to full disclosure and not exempted and allowed to fly under the radar as is the case currently,"
A government spokesman said the Liberals were committed to transparent and honest processes, and have routinely released information.
"The Auditor-General's recent performance audit of the EOI process found there was no evidence to support Labor's allegations of undue secrecy and that - in fact - the publication of information on recommended proposals had been sufficiently timely and appropriately handled," he said.
"Established process criteria and guiding principles were fundamentally sound and well supported by reference to authoritative guidance on eco-tourism."
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