Opposition Senate Leader Michael Dunkley is calling for a bi-partisan parliamentary committee to be set up to oversee the introduction of public access to information legislation.

Sen. Dunkley tabled a motion in the Upper Chamber yesterday which will eventually be debated by Senators and, if approved, passed to the House of Assembly to consider.

The motion reads: "This Honourable Senate recommends that a joint select committee be established to oversee the introduction and implementation of public access to information legislation in Bermuda."

The former MP and United Bermuda Party Leader told The Royal Gazette — which is calling for a PATI law to be passed this year with its A Right to Know: Giving People Power campaign — that the idea was to get politicians working together to ensure the swift passage of a bill.

"We think the best way to move forward would be for all members of the political community to join together rather than keep making excuses that we have intentions but it will take time to do this or that," he said.

"I think there is somewhat of a political game being played with it up to now. In talking to my colleagues in the UBP we feel strongly that there needs to be a joint approach."

PATI was first promised by former Progressive Labour Party Premier Alex Scott in 2003 and Government's Central Policy Unit published a discussion paper on a proposed law two years later.

But despite a claim from Premier Ewart Brown last month that the idea had "never been derailed or delayed or deferred" he has refused to say when a bill will be tabled in the House.

Sen. Dunkley said it was impossible not to believe that PATI had stalled. "Why wouldn't I feel that or anyone else feel that?" he asked. "The former Premier Alex Scott talked about it a long time ago and we really haven't moved forward.

"When you talk about an issue that's important, when you talk about commitments, I think it's best that you try to move them on. This is an important initiative.

"I think people have shown, leading up to and during the last election, that they are frustrated by the political process. One of the things I hear time after time is that politicians need to be more open."

The UBP promised the swift introduction of a freedom of information law in its election manifesto last year. The PLP's Patterns of Progress made no mention of it but the party did pledge to voters in 1998 that accountability and transparency would be its underlying credo and in 2003 promised to build a country "where government continues to operate in the sunshine of public scrutiny".

In order for Sen. Dunkley to get his motion passed he needs the support of five others in the Senate. He can rely on Opposition senators Charles Swan and Gina Spence-Farmer and independent senators Alf Oughton and Walwyn Hughes have also spoken in favour of transparency.

That leaves independent senator Carol Anne Bassett and Government senators David Burch, Walton Brown, Thaao Dill and Kim Wilson to persuade.

Sen. Dunkley said he hoped all his colleagues — regardless of party affiliation — would back his motion and "send a clear message" to MPs in the House of Assembly that it was time for a more open government in Bermuda.