49
than 30 days. However, several public consultations on the same topic may be organised at different stages of the poli- cymaking process. The central agency will work under
the Public Administration Reform Coor- dination Committee.
Greater transparency When a public consultation is consid- ered fi nished, a fi nal report should be made available to the public within 90 days. This report is to take the form of a summary of the conclusions. The government says the proposed
guidelines will support greater transpar- ency and more participation by citizens in public affairs. The director of the Public Admin-
Open to suggestions
The government has plans to create an internal body to coordinate public consultations BY VANESSA AMARO
G
one will be the days when each bureau of Macau’s government launches a public consultation
process of its own initiative, within its own parameters and with the urgency it deems necessary. The government has announced it wants to make public con- sultations more effi cient and it plans to create an internal, central agency to co- ordinate each outreach. A proposal to standardise the pre- liminary preparation, format, summary
reports and yearly plans of public con- sultations has already been drafted. However, the changes will not be made this year as the document is now the sub- ject of internal consultations. The proposal outlines the creation
of a single body to coordinate all as- pects of public consultations, the prior- ity to be given to each consultation and the guidelines for each project. The draft proposal states that public consultations should not last for more
Government walks back T
he government has decided to drop a controversial article in the public workers judicial aid bill after strong public outcry. The removed article would have allowed
civil servants to launch legal actions against ordinary citizens using public funds. That isn’t the only change in the bill. The chief executive, principal offi cials and
judges will be excluded from the proposal. “I see this event in a positive way. The population’s reaction was a good
opportunity for active participation and it also proved the Legislative Assembly does more than just rubber-stamp the Government’s proposals,” the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Florinda da Rosa Silva Chan said. She stressed the bill will still allow civil servants to apply for legal aid if they are the subject of a lawsuit. Meanwhile, the government will create a new group to coordinate the legal
reform works, Ms Chan announced. Its main goal will be to ensure that law revisions run smoothly and within the given deadlines.
istration and Civil Service Bureau, José Chu, says the central agency would be re- sponsible for determining the parameters for each public consultation but would not carry out the consultation itself. “Such still remains the responsibil-
ity of each department. The central body would have the role of a consultant and adviser in the process,” Mr Chu said. The way the government organ-
ises public consultations has previously been criticised by some interest groups and legislators. They have raised doubts about the rigour of consultations and questioned how conclusions are drawn.
More bureaucracy Political analyst Larry So Man Yum slams the idea of creating another body with a singular role to coordinate public consultations. “It is really adding more bureaucracy,” he told Macau Business. But Mr So, who is an associate profes- sor at the Macau Polytechnic Institute, agrees with the 90-day period for the government to announce the results of each public consultation. He said there should be “a balance
between which topics are more technical and should involve direct consultations with specifi c groups and those which in- volve livelihood or similar matters” and should involve wider public consultation. Mr So also says the government should make better use of
the three
community service consultative coun- cils in gauging public opinion. These bodies, created less then two years ago, were intended to improve com- munication between the government and the people.
Additional reporting by Emanuel Graça OCTOBER 2010
Photo: Luís Almoster |
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