In a democratic country like Australia, our governments and institutions should be able to be relied upon to answer questions from the media and the public, putting paid to mistruths and providing information straight from the horse’s mouth.
However, the Star Mail and local residents of the Yarra Ranges are becoming frustrated at a lack of transparency from governments, particularly at the state and local levels.
While it can be deadline-dependent, common practice in local media like the Star Mail is to give at least 24 hours for a response.
In 2022, a Star Mail journalist emailed queries to one Victorian government department and received responses within two business days on four out of five occasions, with each response containing extensive background and at least three attributable lines, some of which were named and others unnamed spokespeople.
In 2024, the same government department has only provided responses within the same timeframe twice from six enquiries. Of those two, one was a one-line comment and one was a three-line comment attributable to a person, but in response to a controversial issue that was also picked up by major new organisations.
A March 2022 media contact list for the ministers of the Victorian Government had lists of media managers and advisers each assigned to anywhere from one to three ministers. An updated August 2024 list no longers lists media advisers, but list managers who are covering anywhere from two to eight different ministers and as many as 11 ministerial portfolios within that.
Reach out to speak to a minister without a pre-arranged press event or pre-written media release comments and be prepared to hear from your old friend the anonymous spokesperson again. Another Yarra Ranges resident recently advised that one minister who took on a different portfolio last year has never responded to their questions directly, despite their predecessor doing so.
Being based in the Yarra Ranges, the Star Mail and Yarra Ranges Council largely have a strong working relationship.
That being said, they are no stranger to ballooning past deadlines on occasions. The Star Mail was recently advised to expect media responses to take over a week during the current caretaker period, despite our need as a weekly publication to at least be able to turn around a story within that timeframe for timeliness.
Spare a thought for residents who try to contact their council with concerns. One local who came to the Star Mail with a gripe heard back once from Council on 23 September and is still awaiting a response to further communication, despite the Council issuing a statement to the Star Mail for an article within a week.
In a world with the internet at our fingertips and misinformation rife, a trusted source is a valuable commodity and too often it’s not found in our governments.
