Ethics Inquiry or Quick fix Sham?

Isla MacGregor Whistleblowers Tasmania

In Dr Warwick Raverty’s recent Open Letter to members of the Joint Select Committee on Ethical Conduct he commented that several of his friends concerned about issues that go to “the very root of our democracy” are “even aware of the Select Committees activities, let alone its timetable”. Dr Raverty asserted that the public need to be “fully engaged in the process being undertaken by the Select Committee”.

Ethics Inquiry or Quick fix Sham?

The Joint Select Committee on Ethical Conduct is coming under increasing public criticism for its failure to adequately provide for a thorough public consultation process. The Alliance for Healthy Governance wrote to the Chairman of the Committee Hon Jim Wilkinson outlining their concerns on the 25th June and were disappointed to receive both an inadequate response and a failure to provide reasons for that response.

In Dr Warwick Raverty’s recent Open Letter to members of the Joint Select Committee on Ethical Conduct he commented that several of his friends concerned about issues that go to “the very root of our democracy” are “even aware of the Select Committees activities, let alone its timetable”. Dr Raverty asserted that the public need to be “fully engaged in the process being undertaken by the Select Committee”.

The Joint Select Committee responded to the Alliance for Healthy Governance and other individuals requests with two concessions:

1. the extension of the deadline for submissions to the Committee until the 1st August, and

2. that three papers on relevant issues will be made available upon request to the Committee.

The Committee rejected without reason the commissioning of an Issues Paper to inform public understanding.

The Alliance for Healthy Governance not being satisfied with the response of the Joint Select Committee wrote to the Premier calling on him to support a more thorough public participation process for the Inquiry and that it be referred to and conducted by the Tasmania Law Reform Institute (TLRI). At a Media Conference on Tuesday the 8th July the Alliance put forward their proposal based on the the Consultation Process used for the TLRI’s Inquiry into “A Charter of Rights for Tasmania”.

In 2006 the Tasmanian Government invited the TLRI to conduct this inquiry which was officially launched by then Attorney General Steve Kons with the release of the TLRI Issues Paper “A Charter of Rights for Tasmania”. “The Issues Paper provided information on the matters that the Government had asked the Institute to explore with the community including how human rights are currently protected in Tasmania and how they are protected elsewhere including both in Australia and overseas. It also explored issues concerning models of human rights…”

The final Report outlines “The Consultation” process in some detail:

“Copies of the Issues Paper and/or pamphlet were initially distributed to approximately 800 community organisations and individuals… were also placed on the Institute web page. During the course of the consultation additional Issues Papers and pamphlets were distributed so that in total, approximately 700 Issues Papers and over 2,500 pamphlets were distributed. All major newspapers ran articles on the project and a variety of radio interviews and current affairs programs were conducted.

“Information about the project with links to the Issues Paper and pamphlet were also posted on the website of a number of key organisations including those of the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commissioner,… Other organisations and a number of individuals disseminated information about the project at public meetings and via email and newsletters…A Schools Kit was provided to all secondary schools and matriculation colleges.”

“To facilitate participation in the consultation, members of the Human Rights Consultation Committee undertook 66 community consultation meetings, briefing sessions and presentations with a wide range of community groups… organised a number of seminars with three guest speakers from interstate.”

The Tasmania Law Reform Institute released its Final Report ”A Charter of Rights for Tasmania” in October 2007 over a year after it commenced its consultations.

This Inquiry could have the capacity to reshape governance in Tasmania, promote the concept of collaborative governance and lead to a higher standard of both pubic service and parliamentary performance. Drawing on the Charter of Rights Inquiry as a comparison the Tasmanian community can have little confidence in the current process for the Inquiry by the Joint Select Committee on Ethical Conduct.

If Premier Bartlett declines to respond to community concerns about due process for this Inquiry his new leadership will already appear to have failed to bring in the new broom for accountability and open government that the community have demanded.