OIC endorses Council’s transparency changes
Date published: 26 November 2019
The Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) tabled a report to Parliament today confirming Townsville City Council has addressed each recommendation from March last year.
Townsville City Council has made considerable progress on every one of the 24 recommendations, showing a serious commitment to right to information and information privacy.
Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill said Council has been on a transformative journey to improve processes for the benefit of the entire community.
“Since the OIC gave Council the recommendations last year, staff have been working to implement new procedures that reflect our dedication to transparent, responsible and accessible disclosure of information to the community,” Cr Hill said.
“As part of this process, Council has introduced new platforms that make it easier for residents to access information such as ServiceNow, Townsville Dashboards and Have Your Say Townsville.
“The Townsville Dashboard has recently reached 100,000 views and 5,000 downloads of data sets which shows us the community is using it.
“We’ve made huge strides since Council’s transformation and the OIC report shows that Council is committed to working smarter, faster and better for the community.”
Governance and Finance Committee Chair Cr Verena Coombe said Council had taken several actions to address the OIC recommendations.
“Not only have we worked to create new platforms that share information, we’ve introduced livestreaming of our Full Council meetings and held monthly Community Council’s in suburbs across the city,” Cr Coombe said.
“Council is also working to make reports publicly available with staff finalising the systems and processes needed to make this happen – ideally we’d like to see this implemented by the end of the year.
“All of this has followed off the back of Council’s transformation to improve efficiency, slash red tape and ensure best practice is followed by all staff.”
To access Townsville Dashboards and see the data currently available, visit Townsville Dashboards.
