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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-11-12 Daily Xml
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FREEDOM OF INFORMATION

The Hon. C.V. SCHAEFER (15:10): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the minister representing the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries a question regarding freedom of information.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C.V. SCHAEFER: In his column today, Professor Dean Jaensch says:

One of the important components of a democracy is open government. That has two sides. First, the government should be open about what it is doing, how it is doing it and how much it is going to cost the people.

In the first round of negotiations to establish a new cost-recovery regime for the aquaculture industry, the representatives from the oyster industry were given an assurance that a transparent and verifiable system would be put in place for checking actual time spent on each aquaculture sector. Since then, an average cost per hectare system across all sectors has been established. This will result in fees for the oyster industry increasing fourfold.

Representatives of the oyster industry have been seeking particulars of costs incurred by their sector for three years and have consistently been refused those details. The model used has been accepted by an independent auditor, but the department still refuses to release the figures used to create the model. My questions are: why has the department gone back on its word to supply these details; and why will it not provide this information to those requesting it?

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister for Gambling, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (representing the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries) (15:12): I thank the honourable member for her question in relation to freedom of information and the costs of the aquaculture industry and, in particular, the costs covering the regime relating to cost per hectare.

The Hon. C.V. Schaefer: Per sector.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: Costs per sector. I apologise; I thought the member said 'hectare'. I undertake to refer those questions to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries in the other place and bring back a response for the honourable member.

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