Elise Archer MP

The Premier’s assertion that the State Opposition should not be using the Right to Information (RTI) legislation shows how scared she is of the community getting access to information about how her Government operates.

RTIs are crucial to hold governments accountable – for example, in early 2010, RTI documents revealed that Aurora was in a dire financial position and predicted it would make a loss in the 2009-10 financial year (which ended up occurring).  This prompted a significant debate on Aurora and power prices. It was also through RTI documents that we were able to prove that many Government departments were buying power from an interstate retailer, which started the debate about whether or not all Tasmanians should be able to choose from whom they buy their power – a key question in the current cost of living debate.

As for Ms Giddings’ claim about the cost of these RTIs - each government department already employs an RTI Officer to respond to RTI requests; would she prefer they were paid to do nothing?

Ms Giddings can complain all she likes, but I make no apology for doing my job.

Regards
Elise Archer MP
Liberal Member for Denison