Media Release

Senator John Faulkner

12/2009
24 March 2009

FOI Reform

Cabinet Secretary and Special Minister of State, Senator John Faulkner today released exposure drafts of two Bills proposing the most significant overhaul of the Commonwealth Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 1982 since its inception.

The Bills modernise the FOI Act and promote a new system and culture of pro-disclosure for Government information.

“These draft Bills form a cornerstone of the Government’s commitment to enhancing accountability and transparency in government. The proposed Bills will deliver our election commitment to reform FOI,” Senator Faulkner said.

Key proposals include:

• Establishing two new statutory positions – Information Commissioner and FOI Commissioner – and bringing them together with the Privacy Commissioner in a new Office of the Information Commissioner. In terms of FOI, the new office will promote a culture of pro-disclosure across the Government.
• Giving the new Information Commissioner the power to conduct merits based reviews of FOI decisions by agencies, including the power to use alternative dispute resolution tools.
• Introducing a new information publication scheme requiring agencies to proactively disclose more information to the public – and giving the Information Commissioner a key role in assisting agencies and monitoring their compliance with the scheme.
• Reduction of the Archives Act’s 30 year rule for access to all documents to 20 years, and bringing forward access to Cabinet notebooks from 50 to 30 years.
• Important changes to the fee regime – including the abolition of all FOI application fees; the abolition of all charges for a person seeking access to their own information; a charge-free first hour of decision making time for all FOI requests; and for not-for-profit organisations and journalists, a first five hour charge-free decision making period.
• Introducing a single, clear pro-disclosure public interest test, and ensuring that factors such as embarrassment to the government, or causing confusion and unnecessary debate, can no longer be relied on to withhold access to documents.
• Extending the FOI Act to cover documents held by service providers contracted to the Government.
• Introducing a strong new objects clause in the FOI Act, which emphasises that information held by Government is a national resource, reinforcing that the aim of the FOI Act is to give the Australian community access to information held by Government.

The Government has already introduced a Bill to abolish conclusive certificates in the FOI and Archives Act.

Senator Faulkner also announced that an enforceable right of access to personal information held by Government will be moved from the FOI Act to the Privacy Act, and will be included in the draft legislation to reform the Privacy Act later this year.

Co-location of FOI and Privacy in the new structure will strengthen and elevate the role and importance of privacy laws.

Senator Faulkner also announced that the Government would be asking the Australian Law Reform Commission to examine the issue of whether FOI, or an alternative disclosure regime, should be introduced for the private sector.

The Government is now seeking a broad range of views on the exposure drafts of the Bills. Submissions can be made on the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet website www.pmc.gov.au with a closing date of May 15 2009.

After the consultation process, the Bills will be introduced later this year.

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Media Contact:	Website:
Media Adviser - Colin Campbell - 0407 787 181	www.cabinetsecretary.gov.au www.smos.gov.au

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Last Updated: 9 June, 2009