Mercury (Hobart)

SURPRISE TOWNS WE MOST WANT TO VISIT

- DAVID KILLICK

A REPORT highlighti­ng the need to reform Tasmania’s transparen­cy and oversight mechanisms must prompt action, opposition parties say.

An Australia Institute report, Good Government in Tasmania, has called for a suite of improvemen­ts to the laws governing electoral donations, Right to Informatio­n requests and the state’s Integrity Commission.

Labor shadow attorneyge­neral Ella Haddad said the report addressed a culture of secrecy familiar to political observers. “Everything in the report points to what we know. Tasmania under this government lacks transparen­cy, lacks honesty, and lacks integrity,” she said.

“Under this government, we’re seeing a culture of secrecy permeate their offices and filter down to the public sector as well.”

Among the report’s suggestion­s were improvemen­ts to the Tasmanian Integrity Commission.

But the Liberals’ Guy Barnett denied the commission was a “toothless tiger”.

“The Integrity Commission has an important role to play ... they are achieving the objectives for which they were establishe­d,” he said.

Budget papers show the Integrity Commission’s budget will fall from $ 2.73m in 2020- 21 to $ 2.65m in 2021- 22.

And Mr Barnett said a report on electoral donations was on the way.

Greens leader Cassy O’Connor disagreed. “On the evidence and on multiple fronts, politicall­y, Tasmania is the secret state,’’ she said.

“We have the most refusals of Right to Informatio­n disclosure­s, the weakest political donations laws and a government that misleads and routinely buries truth in spin.”

Independen­t Clark MHR Andrew Wilkie on Monday told federal parliament Tasmania’s record on transparen­cy was poor.

“You just need to look at the 2018 state election where the Tasmanian Liberal Party spent a record $ 4m to ensure its re- election, but we simply don’t know where all of that money came from,” he said.

“Then there’s a refusal of the Premier to tell us which businesses, shared in the $ 26m COVID hardship grant program.”

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