"Embarrassing the government helps hurts you a lot more than it hurts me" -Peter Costello I think that there is very little in the way of information that should not be made available to the Australian public under the Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, particularly when they pertain to the financial circumstances of Australians (bracket creep) and the way in which taxpayers' money is spent (First Home Buyers Scheme). As we all know,
Peter Costello thinks otherwise, and the government conveniently has a lackey in the job of deciding which documents are out of the reach of the public.
Treasury Secretary Ken Henry thinks that the public's right to information comes second to the Howard government's 'right' not to be embarrassed, and he's keen to
spread the word on how to use 'conclusive certificates' to keep the Australian public in the dark.
I hope they get screwed on this. Lesser democracies might allow this sort of thing, but Australia shouldn't.
"Embarrassing the government 
5 comments:
Yeah, it's a sad indictment of the politicisation of the public service that has largely happened under the Howard government.
I love it how facts about how bracket creep is effecting the economics of Australian households fits under the same umbrella as photographs of ministers in the buff.
They're just too embarrassing.
Are politicians of any creed even raising this issue, let alone assuring they want it corrected?
I have a feeling Mark Latham might have promised to get rid of conclusive certificates back in 2004. Which means the Labor party probably won't touch it with a 10 foot pole...
Unbelievable. But I suppose the reputations and egos of the ladies and gentlemen of the government are in need of much stronger protection than the basic right to know apparently held by that group of about 13 million ladies and gentlemen who gave them their jobs...
Yeah, FOI has become a huge plus side for the government. How in good conscience can they expect Australians to trust their government reports when Australians can't see how those reports were put together?
But this is a government that practices secret justice so why should we expect any different? The terrorists might find out about bracket creep and explode a big interest bomb or something damaging our economy.
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