A report from the Centre for Public Integrity describes the Rockliff Government’s integrity performance as “uneven” in the first six months of its second term. It’s an unsurprising assessment of the Liberals in government given its long, sorry history of dishonesty and secrecy.
The report highlights key failings in the Liberals’ integrity performance, including abandoning lobbying reforms, increasing taxpayer-funded advertising and under resourcing integrity bodies. It’s clear the Rockliff Government doesn’t take integrity seriously enough.
After objections from the Liberals and Labor, the Integrity Commission abandoned its lobbying reform agenda. It means we still have serious problems with lobbyists for big gambling, mining, fish farming and property developers having too much influence on major party politicians, at the expense of the public interest.
The Integrity Commission has long been wilfully underfunded by the Liberals. This hobbles its capacity to investigate breaches of public trust. And the Liberals still haven’t answered questions about why they used public money for party-political purposes in an untendered advertising deal with Pulse radio.
Even where the Centre for Public Integrity notes positive signs on integrity reform from the Rockliff Government, there are still significant caveats.
While the Rockliff Government has put forward draft amendments to strengthen the Integrity Commission Act and made some positive noises around reforming Right to Information, responsible ministers continue to dawdle on integrity reform.
The Liberals have made no commitment to release accurate ministerial diaries, despite two Legislative Council votes that they do so and a discussion paper on it last year. They also haven’t complied with current disclosure obligations.
The Rockliff Government must start taking integrity seriously. It is meant to be working for Tasmanians, not their industry mates and donors.
This report card should remind the Premier and his ministers that their patchy and variable approach to integrity and transparency is being noted by key stakeholders and everyday Tasmanians.
To improve public trust, the Premier needs to commit to properly funding the Integrity Commission, strengthening our RTI system and reducing the extraordinary, corrupting influence of industry lobbyists.
