Posts Tagged ‘Add new tag’

MEDIA RELEASE | Is it Climate Friendly?

Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

Significant government legislation and policy initiatives in the ACT should be subjected to a Climate Change Analysis, Greens candidate for Molonglo Shane Rattenbury said today.

“With Professor Garnaut delivering the final instalment of his report, the stage is now set for serious action on climate change. This means that we need to be taking account of reducing our emissions every single day.”

“A Climate Change Analysis would necessitate conscious consideration of the greenhouse impact of government actions. It would provide the momentum and information to better inform decisions. Actions could then be taken to reduce the greenhouse impact at the very earliest stages.”

Examples of how this could work include:

• School Closures – with neighbourhood schools being closed, more students have to travel further, many being driven by their parents. A Climate Change Analysis would add a further perspective to a decision, and may alter the ‘cost’ considerations of closing a school;
• Urban Development – as the new suburb of Molonglo is developed, a Climate Change Analysis would guide decisions to ensure the highest levels of sustainability;
• Government investments – Climate Change Analysis would provide the tools to ensure the ACT is not investing in dirty coal fired power stations and other investments that contribute to cooking the planet, and on the positive side, encourage investment in clean energy.

“This would be a powerful tool to ensure better government decision making, as well as improving transparency to the public,” concluded Rattenbury.

MEDIA RELEASE | Restoring the community’s right to know

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

The Greens will establish an Information Commissioner to apply a test as to when it is in the public interest or not to release a document to the public, Amanda Bresnan, ACT Greens candidate for Brindabella announced today.

“The recent report by the ACT Auditor General has made it very clear that ACT FOI officers, if they are not responding to political pressure, are, very inconsistent in the procedures, and fail to make their case when it comes to deciding not to release documents” Ms Bresnan said today.

“A 2006 report by the Commonwealth Ombudsman recommended that agency heads issue a clear statement to staff expressing a commitment to sound FOI practice and the goals of the FOI Act”.

“At present, there is no single or authoritative source of advocacy for good FOI practice”.

“There is now consensus amongst the ALRC, ARC, Commonwealth Ombudsman and the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee that many of the shortcomings in the current operation and effectiveness of the FOI Act could be addressed with the establishment of a constant, independent monitor”.

“It seems clear, as the Auditor General makes very clear, that the ACT public service is similarly challenged when it comes to upholding the principles of Freedom of Information”.

“Under the current ACT Labor Government FOI has been made even more restrictive with conclusive certificates being able to be issued by the Minister. The Greens opposed this very strongly”.

Along with establishing an Information Commissioner the Greens will:

· review guidelines for the classification of cabinet-in-confidence documents

· require reasons behind cabinet decisions to be provided

· increase parliamentary powers to obtain documents from the executive government

· amend the ACT Freedom of Information Act to restore and bolster the objective of requiring information release

“We only need to look at the reams of blacked out documents relating to the choice of site for the gas powered data centre to see that the principles of FOI are not being upheld”, Ms Bresnan