Leadership Quote by Jay Weatherill

The line sells transparency as a moral default, then quickly pivots to its real target: legitimacy. “Good governments have nothing to hide” isn’t just a comforting promise; it’s a binary test that quietly pressures critics and officials alike. If you resist disclosure, the implication goes, you’re flirting with “bad government.” It’s an elegant piece of political framing because it turns a procedural debate (what should be public, when, and how) into a character judgment.

Weatherill’s second sentence gives away the practical intent. “Maintain confidence” is the tell: transparency here is less an abstract democratic principle than a stabilizer for institutions under scrutiny. Politicians reach for this language when a scandal, an inquiry, a freedom-of-information fight, or a looming policy backlash threatens to curdle public trust. In that context, the quote functions like a sealant. It reassures the public that the system is self-correcting while also signaling to bureaucracies and party colleagues that the priority is keeping the machinery credible.

The subtext is that confidence is both the goal and the currency. Trust isn’t treated as something earned through uncomfortable disclosure; it’s something managed. The phrase “nothing to hide” also sidesteps the hard part of open government: states do hide things, sometimes for legitimate reasons (privacy, security, commercial confidentiality), and the fight is over the boundaries. By presenting transparency as uncomplicated virtue, Weatherill claims the high ground before anyone can start asking what, exactly, will be opened up - and what will quietly remain off-limits.