Isla MacGregor
This Inquiry is far too important to the future of democracy and open government in Tasmania to be WRAPPED UP in four months. The Ashley and Youth Justice Inquiry alone took five months from hearings to reporting. The lack of proper consultation by the Joint Select Committee will only seriously undermine public confidence in the Committee’s understanding of what Ethics means and effectively nullify and invalidate any findings and recommendations that they make.
Dear Tim,
I was very concerned by some of the comments made by Jim Wilkinson yesterday about the Joint Select Committee into Ethical Conduct. He acknowledged that there are concerns in the community about the Consultation Process of the Joint Select Committee on this Inquiry of State Significance. The concerns raised by many citizens and a number of community organisations about the fast tracking of this inquiry seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
The Bill of Rights Inquiry conducted by the Tas Law Reform Institute took just over one year with a comprehensive public consultation process. They produced an Issues Paper to provide background and inform the community. I doubt the Institute would appreciate Mr Wilkinson’s inference that the public’s “views might be coloured by an Issues Paper” and that people wanting to make submissions need to do so “without being fettered” by an Issues Paper?
This Inquiry is far too important to the future of democracy and open government in Tasmania to be WRAPPED UP in four months. The Ashley and Youth Justice Inquiry alone took five months from hearings to reporting. The lack of proper consultation by the Joint Select Committee will only seriously undermine public confidence in the Committee’s understanding of what Ethics means and effectively nullify and invalidate any findings and recommendations that they make.
Isla MacGregor
