Australian Greens
Additional Comments
The Australian Greens support reform of the Freedom of
Information Act and welcome the arrival of these long awaited amendments.
Reform to the current Act is long overdue. The effectiveness of the regime, and
the ability of Australian citizens to access information about government
decision-making, has been greatly diminished.
The Greens believe open and transparent government is a
prerequisite to an effective democracy. We believe that creating a culture of
openness at all levels of government is essential if the Australian people are
to have any faith at all in the parliament.
Response
to Committee Recommendations
With regard to the Committee's report the Australian Greens
wish to provide the following additional comments on each of the Committee's
Recommendations.
Committee
Recommendation 1
The Australian Greens support the amendment of section 49 of
the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 to provide that the Information
Commissioner is an ex officio member of the Administrative Review Council.
Committee
Recommendation 2
The Australian Greens believe that the issue of exemption
from the Act are central to the successful operation of the Act and these
issues are more appropriately dealt with by the Parliament rather than by a
statutory officer. We also advocate that it is beyond the scope of the role of
the Information Commissioner to decide such fundamental aspects of the
legislation, after the bill has been passed.
The Greens do not believe that, simply because a document
originated in a security agency, it automatically has implications for national
security and therefore should receive automatic exemption from the freedom of
information act. An extract from my second reading speech on the Freedom of
Information (Removal of Conclusive Certificates and Other Measures) Bill 2008,
and our subsequent amendments moved in committee of the whole, illustrates our
concerns:
"In fact, many documents pass through any number of
agencies, including some security and intelligence agencies, before they reach
a minister. It is ludicrous simply to tick a box and say that if it has come
through a certain department then it is in the national interest and should be
excluded...
It was put to me in a conversation with a very senior legal
counsel who has worked on many of the terror cases where these sorts of laws
might come into effect that the security intelligence agencies need to be
tightly circumscribed under law and not be exempt from the sorts of provisions
that we see under the Freedom of Information Act. This is partly to their own
protection, so that the laws and the boundaries within which they operate are
made clear. We must have a freedom of information regime that gives us the
power to review the work of these agencies where possible, within the
provisions as they exist to protect national security. We must have an FOI
regime that gives us the flexibility to weigh the public interest in national
security against the public interest in accountability and transparency because
sometimes the latter will outweigh the former."
Committee
Recommendation 3
The Australian Greens will seek that the government respond
to this issue before the bill is voted on in the Senate. We request that the
government give consideration to the issues raised with respect to fees and
charges and we do not support leaving consideration of this matter, which was of
particular interest to many witnesses in this inquiry, to the drafters of the
regulations.
Committee
Recommendation 4
The Australian Greens strongly support this recommendation
that the proposed section 61, in item 42 of Schedule 4 to Part 1 of the Freedom
of Information Amendment (reform) Bill 2009 be amended to remove the concept of
an onus of proof from the Act. We take this opportunity to emphasise the
Committee's view that this recommendation must be adopted before the passage of
this bill.
Committee
Recommendation 5
The Australian Greens support the recommendation changing
all references to the 'Information Commissioner' to the 'Australian Information
Commissioner'.
Additional
Areas of Interest
In addition to these recommendations made by the Committee I
would like to indicate additional areas of interest to the Australian Greens:
- the application of the public interest test to all exemptions, in
particular to Cabinet notebooks and the exemption of whole agencies from the
scheme;
- the fee and charges structure;
- leadership from the government and the culture of disclosure
embodied in the Rudd Government including the proposed publication scheme not
applying to ministers;
- the application of freedom of information laws to the parliament.
These areas will be examined in light of the Australian
Greens desire to promote further accountability and transparency in government
decision-making and activities.
Senator Scott
Ludlam
Australian
Greens
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