OPINION
Australians seeking information from the Commonwealth could be slugged with a fee under a proposal designed to prevent frivolous, abusive or irritating requests.
Attorney-General Michelle Rowland wants to introduce fees for freedom of information (FOI) requests, which allows members of the public to request access to certain departmental and ministerial documents.
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Yes, commonwealth FOI requests are the only ones for which an application fee doesn’t currently apply but the fact that the government is looking at changing this without reforming the entire Act is appalling.
Fact is, the commonwealth public service is already so adept at exploiting loopholes that very little is even released under FOI laws anyway.
The reason for that is the Commonwealth Freedom of Information Act (1982) is the oldest legislation in the nation.
As we all know, so much has changed since the 1980s due to technology and, despite several amendments, it is still severely biased towards covering up rather than allowing for any transparency on how and why government decisions are being made.
The best FOI laws are in New South Wales and Queensland because they were updated in 2009.
So not only does the federal government want to become more secretive and less open and transparent, but it wants to slug the public for the “Right to Know”.
This doesn’t just affect media, but the public.
While applying for personal information is free, the vast majority of requests fall outside of that — meaning members of the public have to apply under FOI as well as privacy if they want to get all the information they’re wanting to access.
Therefore, they will still have to pay for FOI just like journalists and business representatives.
The question remains: Why not reform the entire Act, and not just apply an application fee?
Rowland says the changes being introduced to parliament will improve, not limit, transparency, and are needed to address an outdated system being challenged by the rise of new technologies, such as FOI “generators” capable of sending thousands of requests to departments at any given time.
“What’s clear is that the FOI framework is stuck in the ‘80s — before the use of email became common and decades before the invention of the smartphone,” Rowland says.
The Coalition has chastised the push to introduce a fee, with shadow attorney-general Julian Leeser branding it a “transparency tax”.
He has flagged that the Coalition will not support fees on federal FOI requests but is open to reform.
Greg Barns of the Australian Lawyers Alliance has similar feelings.
“It is undemocratic and will particularly create difficulties for those who cannot afford the fees to access information,” Barns told the ABC.
“Australians are entitled to transparency from government even if it means the release of information that is embarrassing.”
If the government was really interested at improving transparency and address an outdated system, it would reform the entire FOI Act (1982) which is antiquated, awkward and heavily slanted in favour of hiding information which, if released, would guard against corruption.
The biggest problem is there’s no effective course for review. If a government agency denies you information you’re entitled to, you’re forced to apply to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner which has absolutely no real power and takes years to make a decision, if at all. The only other place you can go to after that is the Australian Administrative Tribunal which is just as effective.
What needs to happen is the laws have to change in line with NSW’s Act, which is overseen by the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC).
The IPC actually has some teeth and even if you end up in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, you have much more chance of still getting the documents you’re seeking. The NSW government can’t cover up its mistakes, negligence, misconduct and possible corruption in the way other governments can, including the federal government.
The most corrupt governments are the ones which undermine the basic foundations of democracy, primarily openness and accountability.
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