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It's a script that could've been sold to Utopia, as right to information (RTI) expert Rick Snell aptly put it.
Earlier this year the adjunct associate University of Tasmania professor heard about something called the "Right to Information Uplift Project" by the Department of Premier and Cabinet, which was looking at ways to improve the state's often-criticised RTI laws — so he endeavoured to find out more.
First off, he sought the minutes from the meetings. That took a lot of persistence and about a six-week wait.
In those minutes he found reference to a discussion paper and put in a RTI request to get hold of it.
When he finally received a copy, all the proposed solutions to fix the state's RTI laws were blacked out.
Dr Snell said the Tasmanian government could "help its budget problems" by selling it as a "ready-to-go script" to Utopia, the Australian television political satire that lampoons bureaucracy.
"No other effort is actually needed to produce a script for Utopia or [UK political satire] Yes Minister on this," he said.
Dr Snell was told the redactions were made because they were internal working documents and it was "not in the public interest to release them because they'd confuse people".
"They said they don't satisfy the public interest test because these recommendations haven't been accepted by the department, the government and had effectively been overtaken by the Commission of Inquiry and Integrity Commission report," he said.
Dr Snell believes the problem is not necessarily the state's RTI laws, but the culture of how they are applied.
"It's a 19th century view about government information management, which is that the information actually belongs to the government of the day," he said.
"It starts from the default that this is the government's information, even the public service's viewpoint, this is ours … and we will determine when and how and if we release any of the information.
"That's despite the wording and intent of the RTI Act and all the kinds of recommendations that are around it."
'Some officers maintain attitude against' release of information
It appears to be a view shared by those who authored the discussion paper, which notes the "successful performance of RTI is impacted by some officers who maintain an attitude against disclosing information".
The Right to Information Uplift Project, which surveyed RTI delegates across the Tasmanian state service in order to understand issues and inconsistencies, found some of the main issues affecting performance included:
- Inadequate RTI delegate staffing, despite significant increases in applications made
- Inconsistent processes undertaken between agencies which leads to an inconsistent experience for applicants
- Proactive disclosure not being used as the primary method for releasing information
- A negative public perception of the work undertaken by RTI delegates reduces work morale
- A lack of a formal or consistent process for determining when a person has the requisite skills and knowledge to be delegated powers and functions under the Act
- Limited training provided to new right to information delegates
- The time taken for external reviews to be completed and a lack of mechanisms for agencies to resolve longstanding matters outside of the formal review process
- The difficulty in handling requests for personal information with confusing and contradictory statutory mechanisms
'Culture of secrecy', says Labor
Labor spokesman Josh Willie suggested the decision to redact all the solutions in the report was "some kind of cruel joke on the Tasmanian people".
"A document which outlines improvements to the right to information process is redacted, I think it tells you everything you need to know about this government and the culture of secrecy within this government," he said.
Both the Labor and Greens parties went to the last election with policies to strengthen RTI and transparency laws.
Mr Willie said Labor will continue "to push the government to be more open and transparent with Tasmanians".
"It's ultimately their [Tasmanians'] information," he said.
"They deserve to have that information in the public domain, not have it hidden because it's politically inconvenient."
This sentiment was echoed by Greens deputy leader Vica Bayley, who described the situation as "laughable", saying it "shows what a farce transparency is under the [Jeremy] Rockliff government".
"If an RTI report that is proposing solutions in the RTI space cannot be publicly released without vast sections of black ink that redact the most critical information, it just highlights how broken the system is," Mr Bayley said.
"This is a joke and clearly the government needs to step up and do something urgently."
Government minister Jo Palmer said the RTI system was "completely at arm's length from government, we don't play a role in that process".
"We're having a review of the RTI process and from that, we'll see if there's anything we can do to improve it."
Dr Snell has appealed the redactions.
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