Treasury says act goes a little too far

Press, 31 January 1984, Page 8

Treasury says act goes a little too far

By

MICHAEL HANNAH,

Parliamentary reporter

Some Government departments, notably the Treasury, are unhappy with the right of access to official advice to the Government under the Official Information Act.

The Prime Minister, Sir Robert Muldoon, said yesterday that the Treasury, the Reserve Bank and other departments believed the act went “a little too far” in allowing public access to officials’ advice. The comments were later confirmed to “The Press” by the Secretary to the Treasury, Mr B. V. J. Galvin, who speculated that the issue might have to be settled in the courts.

Sir Robert’s comments came after the Labour Party had failed to obtain the Treasury’s three-year forward forecasts of Government spending, income and deficits, but also after Reserve Bank correspondence with the Prime Minister was released, without a sensitive appendix, last week.

At a post-Cabinet press conference yesterday, Sir Robert quoted Mr Galvin’s concern, as “the man most involved.”

“He believes that the act even goes a little too far, in terms of what Treasury, the Reserve Bank and, indeed, other departments would wish to say to the Government, that if everything they say to the Government was to be made public, then they would have to be much more restrained in the frank advice they give,” Sir Robert said.

When approached by “The Press,” Mr Galvin confirmed that he was concerned about the access to Treasury advice allowed under the act.

“The act is still settling down. Until these issues are resolved, there will be some unease about it,” he said.

Mr Galvin said that the problem centred round the different conventions different departments had followed in allowing public access to their advice before the act came into force.

Treasury had always been “very tight-lipped” about the advice it gave to Government, whereas departments in the social service area had been “very open,” he said. Mr Galvin believed the issue might have to go to the courts to be settled, as

the Ombudsman and some departments such as the Treasury took different stances.

At the press conference earlier, Sir Robert had also dismissed a suggestion that the Treasury’s figures could have been released without the Treasury’s advice. He said the figures and the advice were inseparable, otherwise they would make no sense.

Labour’s assertion that it needed the figures to cost its policies showed how pov-erty-stricken the party was, Sir Robert said. “We never needed that sort of information in Opposition, and didn’t get it either,” he said. “If they can’t bring together policy without Treasury reports, they’re a pretty incompetent bunch.” PA reports that Social Credit’s deputy leader, Mr Garry Knapp, has said forecasts of Government expenditure over the next two years have already been disclosed. The Labour member of Parliament for Miramar, Mr Peter Neilson, has had his request for Treasuryforecasts of Government expenditure and revenue for the next three years refused.