OPINION: Time to open up council for voters to see
IF YOU care about good government and democracy, then you should be concerned about a position adopted by Bundaberg Regional Council.
Opinion
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FIVE MINUTES WITH FIELDING
HONESTY BEST POLICY
IF YOU care about good government and democracy, then you should be concerned about a position that has been adopted by Bundaberg Regional Council.
The council has decided not to disclose all Right to Information applications it receives and the documents it releases as a result.
It's RTI discloure log was last updated in September.
For the NewsMail, this means in many cases we will have to lodge our own RTI applications to access information about RTI applications and document releases.
We live in a modern, mature liberal democracy and secrecy should be the last resort, not the default position of any government, even if not legally required.
Indeed the State Government and its agencies each maintain an RTI disclosure log and will release documents to any party who requests them, not just the applicant.
The government says the Right to Information Act 2009 was meant to induce "greater proactive and routine release of information”.
Open, transparent government is necessary for citizens to be informed and to allow them to monitor performance.
Of course, some things must be treated confidentially, such as matters that are commercial-in-confidence, relate to security and involve the private information of individuals. But RTI legislation and processes deal with that.
The mayor has said more than once he wants Bundy's council to be the best operating in the country.
If that is the case, then I call on him to do what he can to ensure openness and transparency so we can all judge that for ourselves.
SLOW GOING
ONE of these days I swear I'm going to run over someone on Bourbong St.
It's already slow enough without people moseying across the road at the pace of a tortoise wearing lead shoes.
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