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On 30 June 2009 I received a phone call from a woman in the office of the Victorian Ombudsman acknowledging receipt of my complaint letter about the City of Yarra"s refusal to release food hygiene inspection information into the public domain.

The woman did not seem to understand the substantive point of my complaint or the outcome I wish to achieve, despite the fact I state both clearly in the letter. She focused on a narrow legalistic determination of what the Ombudsman"s office could do....Read Full Article»

I find it ridiculous in the age of radical transparency being brought forth by the ubiquity of online information that data paid for and owned by citizens is kept from citizens by out of touch governments. I believe that taxpayer funded data must be freely available to the public. A good example is the information gathered by local governments during their food hygiene inspections of restaurants.

We the ratepayers pay for this work to be undertaken to ensure food business prepare and serve food safely and hygienically. We want to know the results of the inspections and prosecutions so we can make safe informed choices about where to eat. Regardless of who paid for the information or who legally owns it, it is in the public interest for this information to be made available. Despite this obvious logic, governments in Victoria refuse to publish this information....Read Full Article»

Twenty Ninth of August, Two Thousand and Eight AD

Papa Gino's: 9.23
Official Start: 10:12
Official Finish: 11:47
Cafe Notturno: 12:17...Read Full Article»

One of the great victories of people over government in 2008 was the successful campaign to save Condell park. Socialist Party councillor Steve Jolly led the campaign, which is typical of his pragmatic approach to local government policy. None of the other councillors made much of a fuss about the park. The Labor party clones on council did nothing to contradict the state Labor local MP Dick Wynne, whose office was spreading misinformation about the future of the park. With no members in state parliament, party unity will not prevent the Socialist Party candidates from dealing effectively with Fitzroy issues....Read Full Article»

In WA and NSW the state governments have introduced official information campaigns that release the results of food hygiene inspections in restaurants and other food service businesses. The government agencies the NSW Food Authority and the WA Environmental Health Directorate publish the names and addresses of businesses that have been penalised for breaching food health standards.

This is a fantastic service for consumers and provides great copy for the media. Why is this not available in Victoria? Choice magazine says the Victorian government has no plans to introduce a similar service, and according to the Age newspaper the government has recently confirmed this position. How can it be Labor policy in one state to publish this information for the benefit of citizens and consumers, yet be Labor party policy not to in another state?...Read Full Article»