Register of Interests Act is flawed and toothless

Education Minister and Deputy Premier, Dr Natalio Wheatley, has described the Register of Interests Act as flawed and toothless.

Effectively, the Register of Interests is a record kept of the financial interests of legislators. Its purpose is to give them the mechanism to publicly declare any private interests which may conflict or may be perceived to conflict with their public duties.

While contributing to the debate on the Integrity and Public Life Act in the House of Assembly recently, Dr Wheatley said the Register of Interests Act has been flawed from inception.

The Register of Interests Act came in for some scrutiny during the Commission of Inquiry after it was revealed that most legislators did not comply with the provisions of the Act upon entering public office.

“The public register was flawed from the beginning and that is part of why we got into a problem with that, it was flawed. Because when it was passed it was toothless,” Dr Wheatley stated.