Tasmanian Greens: Tasmanian: Wednesday, 20 May 2026.
The Greens welcome news the Rockliff Government will move to amend the Right to Information Act 2009 to require more transparency from government businesses though we remain disturbed by the apparent contempt GBEs continue to show the public.
In March, the House of Assembly unanimously passed a Greens’ motion calling for the government to require GBEs to publish information they released under Right to Information laws. Two months on, yesterday we followed up to ask the Premier whether that had happened.
In response to our question, the Premier confirmed that last month he’d written to request government businesses comply with the Parliamentary motion to publish their RTI decisions on a publicly available log. He told us some companies had complied but a number refused, showing contempt for the Parliament and for Tasmanians’ right to know.
With GBEs refusing to openly publish RTI information, the Premier has confirmed a move to change the law to make this a requirement. That’s a very welcome step.
While we thank the Premier for committing to this law change, we are concerned it’s required at all. Publicly disclosing RTI information is a bare minimum transparency measure, so it’s disturbing some government businesses won’t follow the requests of the Parliament and the Premier.
Just who do these GBEs think they are? They are publicly-owned and they’re supposed to operate in the public interest. There is no justification for defiantly refusing to publish what should be public information.
We’ve seen all too often how the cowboy-like attitude and secrecy of GBEs has led to major problems. Just look at the Spirits fiasco. Even more recently, the Premier’s own department found that Tasracing had breached caretaker conventions.
Clearly, there is still a significant need for cultural change across Tasmania’s government businesses. These companies need to understand the public interest should be their priority, and they don’t just get to do things their own way without accountability.
In a Westminster democracy, they certainly can’t be allowed to get away with giving the middle finger to Parliament.
The Greens welcome news the Rockliff Government will move to amend the Right to Information Act 2009 to require more transparency from government businesses though we remain disturbed by the apparent contempt GBEs continue to show the public.
In March, the House of Assembly unanimously passed a Greens’ motion calling for the government to require GBEs to publish information they released under Right to Information laws. Two months on, yesterday we followed up to ask the Premier whether that had happened.
In response to our question, the Premier confirmed that last month he’d written to request government businesses comply with the Parliamentary motion to publish their RTI decisions on a publicly available log. He told us some companies had complied but a number refused, showing contempt for the Parliament and for Tasmanians’ right to know.
With GBEs refusing to openly publish RTI information, the Premier has confirmed a move to change the law to make this a requirement. That’s a very welcome step.
While we thank the Premier for committing to this law change, we are concerned it’s required at all. Publicly disclosing RTI information is a bare minimum transparency measure, so it’s disturbing some government businesses won’t follow the requests of the Parliament and the Premier.
Just who do these GBEs think they are? They are publicly-owned and they’re supposed to operate in the public interest. There is no justification for defiantly refusing to publish what should be public information.
We’ve seen all too often how the cowboy-like attitude and secrecy of GBEs has led to major problems. Just look at the Spirits fiasco. Even more recently, the Premier’s own department found that Tasracing had breached caretaker conventions.
Clearly, there is still a significant need for cultural change across Tasmania’s government businesses. These companies need to understand the public interest should be their priority, and they don’t just get to do things their own way without accountability.
In a Westminster democracy, they certainly can’t be allowed to get away with giving the middle finger to Parliament.
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