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Monday, 12 May 2008 |
Victorians will be able to listen in to the State Parliament for the
first time, with the Premier, John Brumby, today announcing webcasts of
the Parliament will begin from August 19.
Mr Brumby said the webcasts were one of a suite of measures he was delivering to open up Government and the Parliament to more Victorians.
“When I became Premier, I said I wanted to do more to open up the processes of Government and the Parliament to more Victorians,” Mr Brumby said.
“I have taken action on a number of initiatives to increase public involvement in our strong democracy and webcasting the Victorian Parliament is the latest of these actions.”
The webcasts will be for the entire day’s proceedings of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council and will be available at the Victorian Parliament website: www.parliament.vic.gov.au
On becoming Premier, Mr Brumby nominated six key steps he would take to make Government and Parliament more open and accessible:
- The Annual Statement of Government Intentions: This was released on first sitting day – for the first time informing Victorians of the Government’s legislative priorities for the year;
- Premier’s new website: This website – www.premier.vic.gov.au – is live provides a valuable entry point into the Victorian Government; the latest information about Government activities and policies and the capacity for the public to provide direct feedback to Government;
- Transcripts of media conferences and speeches: these are now available at www.premier.vic.gov.au for the general public and journalists;
- Greater transparency around Government boards: a new website has been launched giving names of all Victorian public body board members and remuneration bands at: www.publicboards.vic.gov.au
- More public information on ministerial travel: quarterly reports on Ministerial overseas travel are now on DIIRD website with details of costs: www.diird.vic.gov.au
- Freedom of Information: Legislation was introduced to remove fees on FoI applications and implement the recommendations for reform by the Ombudsman. Unfortunately this Bill was subsequently blocked by the Opposition and the Government is currently considering its options to re-introduce this measure;
- Webcasting: funding was provided in the 2008-09 State Budget for audio and video-webcasting of Parliament. Audio-webcasting will begin in the August sitting week. Video webcasting will be introduced at a later.
The Government also provided the Victorian Parliament’s Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) a broad reference on Government Accountability and is currently considering the report and its recommendation and will respond in the normal way.
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