Government Accountability & Transparency
Politicians must be open and up front with the Australian people. Government's primary role is to protect their citizens, provide public infrastructure and services and to drive both national economic growth and personal growth. The public have the right to expect that governments will deliver services efficiently and fairly without unnecessary waste and duplication. Australians who speak out against corrupt practices deserve to be protected.
Examples of what needs to be done:
- Establish a national anti-corruption commission and ensure that the SA ICAC can hold meetings in public for maladministration cases.
- Ensure politician entitlements and claims are reported in a timely and transparent way.
- Put in place whistleblower legislation that protects the informant and compensates them for any loss of income due to their actions. The changes brought about by our team in December 2016 are a big step forward, but these need to rolled out to the corporate and public sectors as per the governments firm commitments.
- Government services (federal, state, local) must be delivered quickly and efficiently and be fully accountable to the public.
- Review duplicated services at a federal, state and local government level and determine the most appropriate entity to deliver these services.
- Citizens should have reasonable and timely access to government information such that they can participate in government decisions making and, if necessary and as appropriate, criticise government and demand change and improvement from government. Freedom of Information laws need to be enhanced to guarantee information is provided within statutory time frames and that review and appeal processes are conducted in a timely fashion. Improved government transparency is a key preventative measure to maladministration, misfeasance and corruption.