One of the key components of success in transparency is definitely a strong commitment to transparency from the minister and the senior bureaucrats in each institution.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade obviously has a particularly difficult situation with the types of information they're holding, but in my view, they are significantly under-resourced to actually respond to the workload they have, not only with regard to requests but also with regard to their consultations. The concern I have with this department in particular is that they have almost a central agency role because they receive these mandatory consultations.
Most institutions that we have surveyed this year complain about the length of the consultations with the Department of Foreign Affairs, so it is a red alert because of these factors, but also because their performance, which was already given an âFâ last year, has declined so significantly that I really wanted to alert the system that this is something that needs to be looked at. Because it really does have a systemic effect across the system.
If we're going to look at one thing, and if one thing is going to be fixed in this fiscal year, I would suggest that DFAIT has to be looked at as a priority.