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Government reform process needs new push
9 November, 2005
"Is there a reform crisis in Queensland?" asks Professor, Andrew
Hede, co-convenor of the Reform in Queensland: The
Post-Fitzgerald Era conference being held at Noosa
tomorrow and Friday.
"Recent events in Australia have highlighted the need to return
to the reform process pioneered by Justice Tony Fitzgerald in the
late 1980's," Professor Hede said.
"The Fitzgerald vision was not aimed at a short-term fix, but
rather at a sustainable process of continually addressing problems
that inevitably emerge over time in modern governmental systems.
Queensland seems to have lost sight of this."
"This conference will provide a timely review of the reform
process across the media, criminal justice, parliament, and the
bureaucracy," Professor Hede said.
A key issue being discussed by representatives, Craig Johnstone
of The Courier-Mail, Sean Parnell of The
Australian and academic Dr John Henningham, is just how
governments seek to manipulate the news and hide important problems
from public scrutiny.
This was a key finding of the Fitzgerald Report and given the
importance of the media in interpreting events for us, one that
continues to be important according to conference co-convenor and
USC researcher, Dr Scott Prasser.
The Fitzgerald Report pinpointed the connection between
corruption, maladministration and media control.
The old National Party government got away with too much because
of a compliant media.
"A related issue is government secrecy, with governments of all
political persuasions adopting bizarre tactics to keep issues out
of the public eye," said Dr Prasser.
Dr Stephen Lamble, also from the University, will be presenting
a special analysis on the secret state in Queensland.
"Queensland is still dominated by the winner-takes-all approach
to government, that too often stifles critical comment, causes a
misuse of executive government power and erodes the quality of
government decision making," Dr Prasser said.