The Premier’s announced commitment to a more open and transparent Right to Information process is a welcome sentiment, however it sounds like empty rhetoric when you actually look at the Right to Information decisions coming back from Departments.
The Liberal Government’s public statements about Right to Information and transparency are in direct contradiction to the blacked out and redacted pages of RTI documents and refused requests that have become a feature of this government’s approach to legitimate requests.
If Premier Hodgman and his Liberal colleagues really have nothing to hide, why are they and their agencies sending request after request back with more black redacted passages than wording, or refusing straightforward requests on the basis they are ‘too voluminous’ or interpreting requests in such a way as to restrict the release of information?
The Right to Information Act was specifically designed to provide the public with information. If the Hodgman Government truly respected the public’s right to know, information sought would be more readily made available. Instead, the opposite is true of Right to Information requests under this Liberal Government.
Cassy O’Connor MP | Greens Community Development spokesperson
