Open Government Policy Forum
Creating a government that is honest, accessible and accountable
Tuesday, 13 August 2013
Facilitated and chaired by Professor Peter Coaldrake, Vice Chancellor and CEO, QUT
9:30am
REGISTRATION
10:00am
PREMIER’S OPENING ADDRESS
10:30am to 11:30am
SESSION 1 – SETTING THE SCENE: What does Queensland’s
integrity framework look like now and how do we want it to look in the
future?
PANEL DISCUSSION
Integrity is a foundation value for the Queensland public service, and Queensland has a
comprehensive system of checks and balances to support this value. The Callinan/Aroney
Review of the Crime and Misconduct Act 2001 clearly defines the value – that “the three
fundamental and simple elements of integrity are honesty, fairness and openness”.
In this context, it is worth asking whether there has been an over-proliferation of integrity bodies
in Queensland, and an over-reliance on ensuring integrity through enforcement and investigation
mechanisms. Conversely, it needs to be recognised that public servants wield significant power
in many circumstances (the Queensland Police Service is an obvious example) and exercise
delegations that allow them to make decisions about the use of public resources. This requires
that they be subject to a clear accountability regime.
The question, as we consider how to best design a dynamic and adaptive integrity framework for
Queensland, is how to achieve the right tension in our system of checks and balances.
PANEL MEMBERS
11:30am to 1:00pm

Professor Peter Coaldrake (Chair)

Liz Cunningham MP, Chair of the Parliamentary Crime and
Misconduct Committee and Member for Gladstone

Dr Doug McTaggart, Chair, Public Service Commission

Mick Keelty AO APM, former Commissioner, Australian Federal
Police

Professor Nicholas Aroney, Professor of Law, University of
Queensland
SESSION 2 – CREATING AN OPEN AND ACCESSIBLE
GOVERNMENT: Are our integrity and complaints systems too
complex? How do we make government more transparent?
PANEL DISCUSSION
Consumers of government services are able to hold public servants to account for the standard
of their service delivery through a variety of complaints mechanisms. An independent and
effective complaints system is fundamental to ensuring public trust and confidence in the public
sector. It should be understandable, open and accessible, and contribute to a public sector
culture of good governance, with a focus on ensuring the best possible delivery of services to the
public. It is worth asking whether Queensland’s integrity and complaints systems meet these
basic requirements, or whether the multiplicity of integrity and complaints bodies can create
confusion and lack of understanding by members of the public about where to take complaints.
Transparency of operations of government is also fundamentally important in promoting
accountability by keeping members of the public informed about the workings of government. A
healthy system of government is an open government. The Right to Information Act 2009 and
the Queensland Government’s Open Data initiative are examples of increased transparency in
government. However, it is incumbent on government to maintain the impetus to find more ways
to disclose information rapidly and readily, so that the public is placed in the best possible
position to exercise their rights and entitlements.
PANEL MEMBERS

Professor Peter Coaldrake (Chair)

Jonathan Horton, Barrister

Elizabeth Jameson, Principal, Board Matters

Professor Bill Lane, Clayton Utz Professor of Public Law, QUT

Peter Timmins, lawyer and blogger, Open and Shut
1:00pm to 2:00pm
LUNCH
2:00pm to 3:30pm
SESSION 3 – CREATING AN HONEST AND ACCOUNTABLE
GOVERNMENT: What needs to change about government’s
authorising framework, as we move towards increasingly blurred
lines between public service and private interest?
PANEL DISCUSSION
The Queensland Government is committed to creating a renewed, innovative and more efficient
public service. This commitment envisages the Queensland public service playing a growing role
as an innovation agent and facilitator of partnerships between the public, private and nongovernment sectors.
This has direct implications for current governance and authorising arrangements in the public
sector. Currently, these arrangements are mainly built around the ability to sanction, control and
specify activities and outputs. This structure is being challenged by innovation and co-production
by:
 forcing the public sector to be able to handle a higher degree of uncertainty and
unpredictability, which is a part of driving innovation processes; and
 setting a new paradigm for how the public sector interacts and manages its relationships
with the private and non-government sectors.
PANEL MEMBERS
3:30pm to 4:00pm

Professor Peter Coaldrake (Chair)

Kathy Mac Dermott, Executive Director, Property Council of
Australia (Queensland Division)

Barton Green, President, Government Relations Professionals
Association

Sandy Blackburn-Wright, Head of Social Innovation, Westpac

David Muir, former member, Accountability Round Table
(Queensland chapter)
CLOSING SESSION: Moving forward – Summary of key themes by
Chair