Four in five public service employees agreed that Right to Information and Information Privacy reforms have had a positive impact on their agency and that their agency has a culture open to the release of information.

As part of the Office of the Information Commissioner’s (OIC) program to monitor agencies’ performance, the OIC has examined the public sector culture of openness by surveying the attitudes of public servants to the reforms.

Of the views expressed:

• Four in five public service employees agreed that  Right to Information and Information Privacy reforms have had a positive impact on their agency and that their agency has a culture open to the release of information.
• Over three quarters agreed that the agency now publishes information as a matter of course and has employed new strategies, particularly new technologies, to make information publicly available.
• Public servants believed the reforms had been well implemented, but more work was needed. Senior public servants were more conscious of the implementation effort than front line staff.
• Public service employees in two regional areas, Wide Bay Burnett and Fitzroy, expressed less positive views than other regions of Queensland.
• Just over half the public servants acknowledged training had been conducted and was effective, but thought that more training within agencies was needed to explain how the reforms apply to their day to day work.

The responses to the survey indicate that agencies have made a good start on the reforms and public servants are committed to the principles behind the reform process. The positive attitude expressed by public servants in general in this survey is encouraging for the success of these ongoing implementation efforts. The results of this survey are expected to inform agency and OIC programs.

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