The original Tasmania Together consultations in 2000-01 and the Five-Year Review in 2006 found that Tasmanians want to participate actively and meaningfully in the democratic process. They want to be kept informed about Government initiatives, programs and services and expect to be heard by Government.

Delivery of communications and information to the public has traditionally been managed either centrally by the government of the day or left up to individual agencies. This policy advocates a balance of ‘flexibility within guidelines’, whereby agencies have autonomy to conduct their particular communication activities, but these must meet Tasmanian Government standards and guidelines, and this policy’s requirements.

Co-operation and co-ordination between agencies is necessary to ensure that Government objectives and priorities are clearly and consistently reflected in the information and messages communicated to the Tasmanian public, and appropriate communication techniques are used. This requires agencies to be abreast of whole-of-Government themes and issues and, with the assistance of communications specialists, to implement best practice communications.

This policy takes into account the strategic requirement to respond to Tasmania Together (in particular Goal  8 – “Open and accountable government that listens and plans for a shared future), legislative requirements for the receipt, recording, deposit, dissemination and accessibility of public information in print and/or electronic formats, and existing Tasmanian Government protocols for the management of media and online communications.

Legislation and guidelines relevant to this policy include:

• Anti-Discrimination Act 1998
• Archives Act 1983
• Copyright Act 1968 (Cwth)
• Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act 2000 (Cwth)
• Defamation Act 2005
• Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cwth)
• Evidence Act 2001
• Electronic Transactions Act 2000
• Financial Management and Audit Act 1990 (Treasurer’s Instructions)
• Freedom of Information Act 1991
• Libraries Act 1984
• Personal Information Protection Act 2004
• State Service Act 2000
• Cabinet Handbook (Department of Premier and Cabinet)
• Email and Internet Privacy and Security Principles (Department of Premier and Cabinet)
• Guidelines for the Administration of Crown Copyright (Department of Justice and Industrial Relations)
• Guidelines on Workplace Email, Web Browsing and Privacy (Australian Privacy Commissioner)
• Tasmanian Government Captioning Policy (Department of Premier and Cabinet)
• Tasmanian Government Web Publishing Strategy Statement Version 1.0 (April 2005)
• Tasmanian Government Web Publishing Standards Version 1.2 (January 2005)
• Relevant agency-specific guidelines e.g. Client Information Guidelines (Department of Health and Human Services).