Wayne Lines

Privacy commissioners from around the nation have promised a consistent approach to accessing records of Stolen Generations survivors. 

A range of purchases made by South Australia’s largest council equated to “substantial mismanagement of public resources”, according to the state ombud.

Reluctant public servants and lack of trained Freedom of Information officers have been blamed for poor transparency in two states.

Information commissioners and ombuds from Australia and New Zealand have called on government agencies to do more to make information accessible to the public. As part of International Right to Know Day, which took place on 28 September, the leaders have encouraged agencies to take a “proactive approach towards releasing information”.

South Australian Ombudsman Wayne Lines has expressed concern over the involvement of department chief executives and ministers in the Freedom of Information process, and has called for an Information Commissioner to be installed.

Three years after a royal commission exposed a dangerous lack of resources in the South Australian child protection system new questions are being raised about whether the government is living up to its commitments to change the system.

An ombudsman’s investigation has found a former department head committed misconduct through inappropriate expenditure and by getting involved in a related information request from the Liberal Party, which sacked him once in government.

Maladministration findings and major governance reforms mark the end of an era for Roxby Downs, a company town jointly funded and controlled by BHP Billiton and the South Australian government. The minister has made it a “long-term aim” to let residents elect a true council.