Here is a summary of three reports by Victorian Auditor-General, Mr Des Pearson, that were tabled in the Victorian Parliament this morning.
The reports (quick review over the fold) cover youth rehabilitation, progress on the CJEP (Criminal Justice Enhancement Program), and reporting by local governments.
Ultrashort summary of the auditor’s opinions…. "Not happy, Jan"!
The Democrat Dissenting Opinion to the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2008 Senate Majority Report makes "interesting" reading … it points to considerable differences between the privacy concerns of ALP senators before and after the election.
Go first to sections 1.8, 1.9 and 1.10 of the Democrat opinion, and then scan through the rest.
A less diplomatic version of this post is over at Balneus.
I’ve posted over at Balneus ("2020 report: touch on poor, remote, and disabled" - 2008-05-31) on the inadequate accessibility of the final 2020 report… you cannot even read it online as HTML!
Other blogs have “open threads”, so this is the first weekend thread specifically for you to let us know about any inquiries that interest you among the many we haven’t been able to comment on.
Whew … a small win in more effective use of IT by the government so people can be informed efficiently by Kim Carr. See this over at Balneus.
Dave’s tireless doggedness in chasing the Victorian Parliament has made me think that some kind of political pressure might be the key. And what better way to garner political attention than by easily digestible rankings?
Indices, rankings and league tables are used widely by thinktanks both to promote their own work and provoke discussion into a wide range of topics — corporate governance, press freedom, economic liberty and so forth.
So here’s what I’m interested in hearing from you: what factors should be included in the Wonkery Inquiry Quality Index?
Length of time for submissions? Number of steps required to submit? Availability of email / fax / phone / website contacts? All these and more could be part of it. Let us know your thoughts.
The Victorian government will be having an inquiry into "Melbourne’s Future Water Supply" soon, but even though this is really important, and is the subject of major public debate and interest, it looks like you need to register first with enrc@parliament.vic.gov.au first. The main page is Here and the terms of reference here.
Even though the inquiry is to report by the end of 2008, and was referred by the Legislative Council back in September 2007, it still isn’t "open", as my request for information got this response a couple of days ago from the "Executive Officer" of the staff of the committee.
The inquiry is yet to commence. I will have someone notify you when submissions are invited.
Details of the inquiry over the fold:
If you are interested in the federal powers to keep state-based law enforcement agencies honest, you might like to make a submission (by 2008-06-26) to the Inquiry into state-based law enforcement integrity agencies by the federal Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity.
The contact email for submissions and further info is aclei.committee@aph.gov.au.
This is quite important, but I feel VERY out of my depth on this one… any decent legal types (practicing or philosophizing) out there?
The AG’s department is well advanced in its very long and comprehensive review of the law reform options in relation to ‘personal property securities’. To wit, the three-stage submissions process having concluded last year, they have released draft legislation, with commentary and announced a series of information seminars. They invite submissions up until August, so you have time.
PPS refers to the giving of personal property (ie property other than land) as security for a debt. This is an extremely common commercial practice and one which is, imho, of enormous potential economic benefit and excessively complicated law. Hence the review!
The review has produced three discusssion papers, available here:
The evening information seminars are to be as follows, and if you are in Sydney, and you care, well, you oughta known:
| Sydney | 26 May 2008 | Wesley Conference Centre, 220 Pitt Street |
| Melbourne | 27 May 2008 | The Hotel Windsor, 111 Spring Street |
| Perth | 28 May 2008 | Mercure Perth, 10 Irwin Street |
| Brisbane | 29 May 2008 | Eagle Street Conference Venue, 175 Eagle Street |
The AG’s PPS mini-site is quite comprehensive, and if you are interested in this area then I suggest you start there.
The Victorian Parliament Website has a current survey about how good it is.
Personally, I think the Victorian site is far inferior to the federal parliament, the survey is in a particularly closed format, and, what is surprising, is that the survey is not even hosted by government, but by surveymonkey.com.
Anyway, have a look around the Vic Parl website, form an opinion, and think about what you’d put in the survey.
Of course, I was pretty scathing. I’ve found it particularly difficult to get a consolidated list of parliamentary inquiries in Victoria compared to the federal site.
I also giggled about the response to my freeform note, because while it usefully suggested I complete the survey, it didn’t even bother to include a direct link… perhaps they realized that the survey’s hosting outside government was embarrassing!
New Senate Inquiries Recent Senate Reports