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Rudd takes control to new highs
Phillip Coorey - Chief Political Correspondent
December 21, 2007

SOME of Australia's major institutions will have their media releases vetted 
by the Rudd Government to make sure they reflect Labor's "key messages".

A directive was issued this week by the Department of Innovation, Industry, 
Science and Research to about a dozen statutory agencies.

Recipients include the CSIRO, the Australian Institute of Marine Science, 
the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, the Australian 
Research Council, the Co-operative Research Centres and Invest Australia. 
Even the Questacon science museum in Canberra was sent the directive.

It says the Prime Minister's office has instructed that "all strategic media 
releases which relate to the Government's key messages" must be forwarded to 
the department which will then submit them to the office of the minister, 
Kim Carr.
If necessary, Senator Carr would send the release to the Prime Minister's 
office. The department would contact the agency "regarding required 
changes".

The directive says releases "of a more pedestrian nature" need not be vetted 
but anything to do with climate change, industrial relations policy, 
education and science reform, tax policy, national security and health must 
be submitted. It has caused concerns within the statutory authorities which 
were never subject to such conditions under the Howard government.

One former Liberal minister called the Rudd Government "control freaks".
"The CSIRO sent out a lot of things that were quite contrary to our position 
on climate change. We just gritted our teeth and wore it," he said.

A Government spokesman said vetting the releases was a temporary measure 
until ministerial staff were in place.
The secretary of the department, Mark Paterson, said there was nothing 
unusual about the directive, especially in the early days of a new 
government.

Only 30 per cent of the public service had experienced a change of 
government and a number of agencies had sought "guidance on how to deal with 
media release issues", he said.

Mr Paterson said statutory authorities should not be immune.
"There's a mindset with some that statutory authorities are independent for 
all purposes. They're not," he said.
"They are created to undertake a particular task. That doesn't give them 
free range or nor should it."...<snip>