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Round the grounds

By Peter Timmins

A batch of media articles on freedom of information and related transparency in government matters over the last few days:

• In Victoria, the Premier was surprised at the rejection of the FOI amendment legislation; the Herald Sun hopes the government won't take the bat and go home, but looks broadly for true FOI reform.
  
• A more detailed analysis of proposed legislative change in NSW to permit disclosure of "serious" breaches of food hygiene standards - the Sydney Morning Herald headline says it all: Gut pains, courtesy of Macdonald
• The Federal and state ministers of health agree on some disclosure of unspecified information about how hospitals and doctors perform, as outlined in this article in Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald. Without much fanfare, the Queensland Department of Health is already posting on its website detailed comparative performance data on hospitals.
  
• The NSW Ombudsman is bewildered by secrecy at RailCorp after investigating complaints about its refusal to release documents to the SMH concerning safety, first sought three years ago saying it may indicate more systemic failure to properly deal with applications by journalists.
• The Tasmanian Minister for Education has promised more detailed performance assessment information on public schools, after a Freedom of Information application for this type of information was rejected.
  

Full post as published by Open and Shut on March 02, 2008 (boomark / email).