Buckets of black ink and chronic culture of cover-ups reveal chaotic state

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Buckets of black ink and chronic culture of cover-ups reveal chaotic state

BLACK ink censoring a third of a damning youth justice report, a cover-up culture in the state's railways and a veil of secrecy around an outage of crucial software in our public hospitals.

They are among the worst examples of the public being left in the dark.

They lay waste to the so called new era of transparency that was promised by the Palaszczuk Government more than four years ago.

Arguably the most graphic case of Government censorship struck in April 2017 with the redaction of hundreds of pages of an independent review into youth detention centre conditions.

That included censoring any reference to a shocking incident – as revealed at the time by The Courier-Mail – of a 17-year-old prisoner in an adult jail being masked, shackled, and left alone in his cell for an hour.

It proved to be a trigger for the review, but details fell victim to the $500,000 report's redactions.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk came under fire at the time for backing the redactions, which extended to all images, apparently against the original intentions of the report's authors.

A mock-up of the black ink-stained report on the front page of this newspaper demanded to know: "What if we treated you like this?"

A less redacted version was later released.

The Government then was under pressure for sitting on another report, ultimately for nine months, into the Moreton Bay rail link signalling faults that stalled the new track's opening.

But that proved to be no contest to the cover-up culture that was exposed within state-owned passenger train network Queensland Rail after a severe driver shortage spilt over into mass service cancellations.

QR managers had been warned eight months earlier, but failed to act or report up the line.

One QR report warning of the shortage only landed on then-transport minister Stirling Hinchliffe's desk almost a year later after having already made its way to The Courier-Mail. A review blamed a culture of "complacency and being reluctant to share bad news" at QR.

QR would later come under attack over a lack of transparency for its punctuality in reporting after revelations it ignored more than 800 late running newly ordered trains in the data.

Then there's the contentious cross river rail project, the full business case for which remains secret. And more than half of a bundle of papers released by the Government last week on the project after a Right to Information application were redacted (368 fully redacted pages).

RTI laws proved no obstacle for Ipswich council suppressing details of its overseas trips in 2012 when it spent $80,000 of ratepayers funds on legal bills to fight the newspapers requests.

The council was dismissed in 2018 in the wake of a wide-ranging corruption investigation.

More recently, Queensland Health is keeping under wraps its investigation report into problems with the new Integrated Electronic Medical Records public hospital system (ieMR).

Nine years on from the spectacular health payroll disaster, QR initially explained away a three-hour system outage last month to media as a problem with staff logging in. An investigation has since pinpointed the failure, but the report is yet to surface.

State Opposition questions on notice about the finer details of the failure remain unanswered.

Health industry sources are also concerned the extent of issues with another program, the S4/Hana ordering software, have not been fully revealed and may put pressure on the budget.

[ozbob]

We (RAIL Back On Track) had a lot of RTI denials particularly with respect to the NGRs when we were working up the NGR Inquiry.

Make no mistake, this State of Queensland is particularly prone and has a culture of cover up. 

Just look at the constant battle for basic PT data ...

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> When government keeps the truth from you, what are they covering up?

Today media companies from all over Australia unite in an unprecedented action to fight for press freedoms and the public's right to know what's going on in this country.

Australia's Right To Know coalition of more than a dozen of the nation's top media companies and industry organisations is campaigning for change to six critical areas of law that is allowing a veil of secrecy to being thrown over matters important to all Australians.

Since 2002, there have been 75 pieces of federal legislation intended to protect the public from national security threats but that have found new ways from stopping the public's right to know what the Federal Government is doing.

New research reveals that 87 per cent of Australians value a free and transparent democracy where the public is kept informed, but sadly, only 37 per cent believe this is happening in Australia today.

While the government withholds information relating to aged care abuse, proposed new powers to spy on ordinary citizens, and the terms of land sales to foreign companies, Australians believe these are matters they absolutely have a right to know about.

The straw that broke the camel's back were the raids on News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst (who now faces possible criminal charges, ironically because she reported the government was considering new powers to spy on all of us) and an unrelated raid on the ABC headquarters after a report detailing incidents of Australian special forces troops killing men and children in Afghanistan.

"It's unprecedented to see the front page of every single newspaper pointing out the same issue we are challenged with having to deal with, but this is serious. It's serious for all Australians, not just for media, but it's our job to actually serve our communities," News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller said.

"When you see every media organisation lining up together to make this point, we need to see some action."

The six Australia's Right to Know reforms being sought are:

the right to contest any kind of search warrant on journalists or news organisations before the warrant is issued;

law change to ensure public sector whistleblowers are adequately protected;

a new regime that limits which documents can be marked 'secret';

review of Freedom of Information laws

that journalists be exempt from national security laws enacted over the past seven years that currently can put them in jail for doing their job; and

reform to defamation laws.

"Australia is at risk of becoming the world's most secretive democracy," ABC's Managing Director, David Anderson, said. "We've seen the public's right to know slowly erode over the past two decades, with the introduction of laws that make it more difficult for people to speak up when they see wrongdoing and for journalists to report these stories."

Nine Entertainment's CEO Hugh Marks said the issue was not just about raids on media organisations.

"This is much bigger than the media. It's about defending the basic right of every Australian to be properly informed about the important decisions the government is making in their name," he said.

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https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1185939371007995904

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1185939108884963328

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https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1185943280158003200

[ozbob]

When government keeps the truth from you, what are they covering up?

http://yourrighttoknow.com.au/

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https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1185945486454247426

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Front page of today's Queensland Times 

Queensland Times 21st October 2019 page 1

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https://twitter.com/couriermail/status/1185994109112279043

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Facebook ...

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https://twitter.com/railbotforum/status/1186000422151970816

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https://twitter.com/jameschessell/status/1186010331123814400

[ozbob]

Alison Sandy is the FOI Editor for 7 News

https://twitter.com/alisonsandy/status/1186165182860447746

[aldonius]

I'm almost glad and viciously amused at what's happened with this today; civil libertarians have been banging on about this for years and the papers haven't given a sh%t.

Let alone the rest of the civil liberties erosion in the last two decades; the papers have barely cared about it even for the laws aimed squarely at journalists and whistleblowers.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/7NewsBrisbane/status/1186193728219729920

[ozbob]

Queensland Times --> Corruption fighter hits wall in quest for information

IF RIGHT to Information documents were easier to access by residents and journalists, poor governance and alleged corruption within Ipswich City Council wouldn't have flourished as easily as it did, according to Ipswich resident and mayoral candidate Gary Duffy.

Mr Duffy said when he requested access to council documents that included mentions of his own name between November 1, 2014- June 1, 2016, that he was met with exaggerated estimates of the time and resources needed to meet his request.

At the time, Council's Managed Service Provider estimated the request would take 160 hours to complete, or the equivalent of 4.44 weeks of full-time work. It would cost $95 an hour, bringing the total cost to $15,200.

Mr Duffy disputed the estimate.

"To spend $15,200 to search the email accounts of six people over that period was just an incredible amount," he said.

"I know that if I want to search an email account, I just put the name in and it comes up, it's there and I'd have all those documents and I could just download and dump them in less than an hour."

In response to his dispute, council's Risk and Right to Information department sent a letter to Mr Duffy explaining what would be involved in meeting his request.

"Your RTI Application dated August 8, 2016, sets out 12 requests for documents marked (a) to (i) comprising document types such as emails, text messages, memos, letters, correspondence, applications in relation to six named individuals at Ipswich City Council and Ipswich City Council, its officers, councillors and staff and Queensland Times and its staff," it said.

"In addition to the time/cost associated with searching and collating documentation, council resources would be required to review the documentation in accordance with the RTI Act to ensure the documentation falls within the scope of your RTI Application and redact any information that should not be released, pursuant to the RTI Act.

"I have no basis on which to consider that the initial estimate in relation to council resources required to process your RTI application is incorrect."

He requested similar information from LGAQ and when the documents were delivered, they were heavily redacted.

Mr Duffy believes information relating to members of the public should be easily accessible and free of charge.

"If there was RTI available to residents of Ipswich, corruption would not have flourished here as easily as it did.

"Journalists who were chasing documents all the time would have had access to the proper documents that were needed to keep a government honest."

Mr Duffy said he would strive to improve the process if he was successful at the council election, given that the documents requested wouldn't cause harm to another person.

"After the experience I've been through and seeing that there is no particular reason for them to hide something from me, so why should I hide something from someone else."

A council spokesperson said Mr Duffy was offered the opportunity to consult with the Right to Information Officer regarding his application.

"Council then and now manages its RTI functions in accordance with the Act," they said.

"Our RTI/IP policy and procedures are regularly reviewed amended to reflect better practice and to meet any amendments to legislation. In fact they were reviewed this year.

"The Right to Information Act and Information Privacy Act are the responsibility of the State Government.

"If Mr Duffy believes the requirements of the Acts are inadequate he should discuss his concerns with his local MP."

[ozbob]

The Australian --> When scrutiny becomes enemy of the state

If you think journalists are the people who control information, you're in for a big surprise. Never before has the state collected more data on citizens, employed more message merchants to shape the news agenda or constructed a mighty firewall to stop information about its activities reaching the public. We are no match for the power of governments. In a democracy, our job is not to be a mere vehicle for the executive or bureaucracy, to use our platforms to carry official statements to a micromanaged populace. That's what life is like in China and, as controversial as it may sound to some, that's not the liberal, open, free country Australians want to live in. We are in the disclosure business. Not because we are gossips, dobbers or scolds but because the task of scrutiny is necessary to make sure the state itself is not above the law.

That line — the law — is changing, often due to difficult and dangerous circumstances. But also because in a territorial game the scrutinised, as a class, always want to do their work on their own terms. Their lives are much easier if they never have to explain why taxpayer money gets wasted, they want to spy on citizens or people are locked up without cause. Ignorance has never been a solid basis for citizenship or a method to get the best out of elected governments.

Scott Morrison says no one should be seeking a "leave pass" to be above the law, but that is exactly what has happened with the rise of the national security state. Politicians and officials, whether by accident or design, have constructed a "trust us" apparatus. But the enemy is not journalism per se. The enemy they've constructed is any scrutiny at all — not only do they want to keep our eyes off their actions and inactions, they ultimately don't want you to know what they are doing.

We've seen to our horror that censorship at all costs becomes septic. Keith Murdoch, father of Rupert, the founder of our parent company News Corp Australia, was a war correspondent in World War I. On April 25, 1915, Australians landed at Anzac Cove as part of the Gallipoli mission. Australia's then prime minister, Andrew Fisher, did not learn about this assault until May 8; no justification had been given for the use of our troops. Thousands were killed, yet the censors — four levels of them — ensured our political leaders and public were given only sanitised accounts.

By August questions were being raised here, so Fisher asked Sir Keith, on his way to a London posting, to travel via Turkey to report on the campaign.

"It is undoubtedly one of the most terrible chapters in our history," Sir Keith wrote in the extraordinary missive now known as the Gallipoli Letter. "Your fears have become justified." He cabled the 8000-word letter — variously a report, eulogy and angry pamphlet — to Fisher, who sent it to the British prime minister, who circulated it among his cabinet. Weeks later, the Dardanelles campaign was abandoned, British general Ian Hamilton was relieved of his command, then First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill resigned and was banished, and the peninsula evacuated months later.

As grandson Lachlan Murdoch recounted in the 2014 Sir Keith Murdoch Oration, the Gallipoli Letter was "Australia's boldest declaration that our nation had a right to know the truth". He declared "censorship should be resisted in all its insidious forms". That spirit informs our mission and membership of a coalition to improve the climate for reporting the truth to the Australian public. Journalism is always in a struggle with the forces of censorship. But, as Sir Keith showed, when our freedoms as a people — our ability to make reasoned judgments, to be informed, to know — are under threat, we must have the courage to act. Little by little, under the pretence of national security, the ability to know the truth has been eroded.

As a news organisation we do not think we can do as we please: there are constraints of defamation, sub judice and privacy. Yet secrecy is increasingly being declared in matters that do not pose security risks but, rather, the acute embarrassment of the stuff-up or bad idea. Give the "classified" stamp a rest; put strong definitions around laws, not hold-all terms such as "special intelligence operations". Change the onus of proof in court so agencies need to show why they should gain a search warrant. Let's be clear, this creep of secrecy has been a bipartisan folly. Waving around Monday's "censored" newspapers as a badge of purity or as a weapon to shame an opponent does not wash. Yes, the Coalition has fortified the firewall, often in the name of terror threats. But it has long been a joint enterprise with the opposition through 75 pieces of national legislation. Shamefully, when Labor was in office in 2013, it proposed an Orwellian body with wide-ranging powers to oversee all of the media, the public interest media advocate. It was, as we argued then, the most draconian attack on press freedom in this nation in peacetime.

We don't seek to operate above the law or get a leave pass, Prime Minister. We want to change laws that give the custodians of state power — ministers, the heads of defence forces, security agencies and departments — the ability to do as they please and evade scrutiny. The public wants to know what's being done in its name and expects us to step up. Trust in institutions, including media, is falling; part of that is due to poor performance, press infighting and competition, and "gaslighting" by those who want us to stop asking questions. Our work is out in the open, around-the-clock, subject to 360-degree review by critics and competitors. Readers expect us to get to the truth and can easily choose another source for their news; we suffer financially and reputationally when we make mistakes. But what about the state? You can't sack it. But you can make power better and accountable. That is the essence of our democracy. The news media plays its role when it single-mindedly pursues the truth. We want laws that promote transparency and limit the state's tools of secrecy and control. We trust an informed people, not governments, as the ultimate guardians of our freedoms.

[ozbob]

Your Right to Know: whaling to foreign visas, these are the stories the government wanted to hide

From whaling to foreign investments, these are some of the issues the government tried to hide from you, and experts say legal reforms are long overdue.

...

QUEENSLAND CASE
SUBJECT: DETAILS OF QUEENSLAND'S RAIL FAIL CRISIS
AGENCY: QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT

A train driver shortage that spilt over into the collapse of the passenger train network in late 2016 was met with more secrecy when FOI requests about it were denied or heavily redacted. Despite the Palaszczuk Government ordering a Commission of Inquiry into the crisis, it rejected a Right to Information application by The Courier-Mail for ministerial emails with union officials and discussions relating to the Traincrew agreement at Queensland Rail. The denial was overturned on review and the papers were released in 2018. Queensland Rail also denied an FOI request into the more than $7 million in bonuses paid during the Rail Fail crisis, and another seeking details of costly changes to the state's passenger rail fleet to give train guards a fixed location at the back of the trains.

— Kelmeny Fraser

....