Category Archives: Freedom of information

New record as Senate question time blows out into chaotic marathon over transparency fight

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Labor government loses control of chamber and threatens to strip Coalition members from parliamentary committees

In chaotic Senate scenes, Labor has set a 125-year record by keeping question time running for more than three hours, after the government lost control of the chamber and threatened to strip Coalition members from parliamentary committees in a fight over transparency.

Senator David Pocock led a push to dramatically extend question time and force ministers to answer more questions, with the Coalition, Greens and crossbench defying the government to force changes to long-held conventions and rules in the upper house. It was a rare move which Labor minister Murray Watt labelled a “dummy spit”.

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Australia news live: Ley challenges Albanese over Trump meeting; storm warning for Sydney

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The Liberal leader says the prime minister must extract ‘concrete’ results on Aukus and trade. Follow today’s news live

Hume: Ley describing Melbourne as Australia’s ‘crime capital’ just ‘explaining what every Victorian already knows’

The federal Liberal senator for Victoria, Jane Hume, was on ABC Radio National a short time ago speaking about crime in the state.

Sussan and the shadow ministry team are putting together our policy agenda as we speak. It is only five months since the last election, but I don’t agree that there is nothing that a federal government cannot do. In fact, there are plenty of things that a federal government can get involved in to help states tackle crime, whether it be working for consistent bail laws across the country.

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Controversial FoI changes sparked after staff complained getting emails every 5 minutes may ‘jam something’

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Attorney general says online regulator received nearly 600 freedom of information requests in a short period of time from an ‘automated generator’ and ‘this is why the system is broken’

The eSafety commissioner’s freedom-of-information staff worried one email every five minutes might “jam something”, according to documents which reveal the under-siege feeling that sparked controversial new proposals to clamp down on FoI in Australia.

The Labor government’s unpopular bill to impose charges for FoI requests and dramatically curtail what information could be released seems set to fail after the Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, said the opposition would vote against it – although the attorney general, Michelle Rowland, said she remained “absolutely committed” to the proposal.

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Albanese government worse than Morrison era at producing documents for public scrutiny, report finds

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Labor’s first term saw second-worst performance since 1993 in complying with Senate orders for documents, data shows

The Centre for Public Integrity has accused the Albanese government of having a poorer record than the Morrison government for producing documents for public scrutiny, with a leading barrister warning Labor’s landslide win may further entrench secrecy.

The warning comes after the centre assessed the government’s response to freedom-of-information applications, a tool that allows anyone an opportunity to request documents that are not publicly available.

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Surge in refusals for freedom of information undermines trust in Australian government, watchdog warns

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Refusal rate at its highest in a decade, prompting concern among transparency advocates

The Australian government is refusing freedom of information requests at a rate not seen for a decade, data shows, prompting concerns for transparency and accountability.

Data held by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, the watchdog overseeing the FoI system, revealed the proportion of FoI requests being completely refused has shot up to 27% in the December 2024 quarter.

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Revealed: the guide the MoD uses to keep its secrets … secret

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Files deemed sensitive in 144-page manual include those dealing with royal family, the Gurkhas – and UFOs

The Ministry of Defence has revealed its blueprint for censoring official documents under legislation to make government records more transparent.

The MoD’s “blue guide” for officials deciding which public records can be published was obtained under a Freedom of Information Act (FoI) request. It shows documents classified as top secret are housed at the MoD’s sensitive archive, whose location is redacted, while about 20m more routine documents are stored at Swadlincote in Derbyshire.

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DWP spent £50,000 trying to stop release of review into disabled man’s death

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Previous government spent almost £1m trying to prevent release of documents in 56 legal cases

More than £50,000 of taxpayers’ money was spent on lawyers to try to prevent the release of a safeguarding review ordered after a disabled man starved to death in his own home.

The costs were part of a bill of nearly £1m spent under the last government to prevent the release of various documents under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act.

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‘Dubious’ use of the Freedom of Information Act stopping access to files on Prince Andrew, researchers say

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Biographer says government departments give contradictory refusals to requests and accuses them of ‘cover up’

Researchers have called for greater transparency from the Foreign Office over the files it holds on the Duke of York. Officials responding to freedom of information requests have given a variety of reasons why the files cannot be released.

Andrew Lownie, an author who is researching a biography of Prince Andrew, was told that the files could not be made public until 2065, and implied there was a general rule that papers relating to members of the royal family must remain closed until 105 years after their birth.

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Suella Braverman sent at least 290 government files to her private email

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Tory rightwinger may have breached ministerial code as attorney general between 2021 and 2022

Suella Braverman forwarded government documents to her private email accounts at least 127 times while serving as attorney general, in a potential breach of the ministerial code.

The Tory rightwinger routinely forwarded correspondence, with at least 290 documents attached, when she was the government’s top legal officer between 2021 and 2022, according to a freedom of information request.

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Company linked to Angus Taylor offered ‘generous’ offset calculation after illegal land clearing, FoI letters reveal

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Exclusive: Experts say legislation is ‘broken’ when it’s cheaper for landholders to break the law than it is to apply for permits

A company connected to former federal energy minister Angus Taylor that was ordered to restore critically endangered grasslands was asked to do less than would have been required if it had sought approval before it poisoned them.

The federal environment department’s efforts to reach an agreement with Jam Land to compensate for the 28.5 hectares of clearing on a property in the New South Wales Monaro region are revealed in new documents released to Guardian Australia after a four-year freedom of information battle.

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Former NSW Coalition government was warned recycled soil products posed ‘unacceptable risks’

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Exclusive: Environment watchdog advised in 2021 the material ‘should not be used broadly’, before backing away from proposals to tighten regulations

The New South Wales environment watchdog warned the former Coalition state government that a widely used recycled landscaping product posed “potential unacceptable risks to the environment and the community”.

Guardian Australia revealed in January that the Environment Protection Authority had known for more than a decade that producers of soil fill made from construction and demolition waste – known as recovered fines – were failing to comply with rules to limit the spread of contaminants.

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Labor urges court to bin obligations so it can keep documents secret in event of ministry changes

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Albanese government brings landmark appeal against original ruling on freedom of information that says documents remain official once portfolio changes hands

The Albanese government is urging the federal court to find that ministerial reshuffles wipe out its obligation to release certain documents under freedom of information law, insisting in a landmark appeal case that documents stop being official and are put beyond public reach whenever a minister changes.

On Friday, the court will hear the government’s appeal against a ruling made in March that “official documents of government” do not suddenly become unofficial just because a new minister takes over the relevant portfolio.

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Labor ignored Bonza’s plea for help, as questions linger over what transport officials knew and when

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Exclusive: Documents reveal what transport minister Catherine King was advised to say in public as budget Australian airline headed for collapse

The Albanese government turned down a plea from budget airline Bonza for financial assistance 10 days before it entered voluntary administration and ultimately collapsed, and new documents have questioned what transport department officials knew and when.

Documents obtained by Guardian Australia through freedom of information laws reveal the transport department prepared a brief on Bonza’s financial assistance request for the transport minister, Catherine King, on 20 April. Ten days later the airline’s planes were repossessed and thousands of passengers stranded across the country.

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‘You can expect everything’: what next for Julian Assange and WikiLeaks?

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Site’s edge on whistleblowing is gone and its co-founder must recover, yet their resilience may make revival a possibility

As Julian Assange enjoys his first weekend of freedom in years, there appeared to be no question in the mind of his wife, Stella, about what the family’s priorities were.

The WikiLeaks co-founder would need time to recover, she told reporters after they were reunited in his native Australia, after a deal with US authorities that allowed him to plead guilty to a single criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified defence documents.

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IT expert wins long-running freedom of information court battle over robodebt documents

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Justin Warren first lodged request with the then Department of Human Services in January 2017

The federal court has ruled against a decision blocking access to early robodebt documents drafted under the former Coalition government, as part of one man’s long-running fight to shed light on the scheme’s origins.

Justices Geoffrey Kennett, Anna Katzmann and Shaun McElwaine ruled that a December 2022 decision made by the administrative appeals tribunal (AAT) to keep some robodebt documents exempt, including draft costings and new policy proposals, should be set aside due to procedural unfairness and because the AAT had incorrectly agreed with the cabinet confidentiality exemptions Services Australia applied.

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Flawed immigration detention risk assessment tool can’t be upgraded as ABF data ‘riddled with errors’

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Exclusive: One detainee recorded as being involved in ‘over 3,000 incidents’ in a year – an ‘incredibly unfeasible’ scenario, FOI documents say

The secretive risk assessment tool used in Australia’s immigration detention centres could not be replaced by a better model due to insufficient data collection by Australian Border Force, documents reveal.

The security risk assessment tool is meant to determine whether someone is low, medium, high or extreme risk for escape or violence. It calculates risk ratings based on factors including pre-detention history and episodes that can occur in detention, such as possessing contraband or refusing food or fluids.

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AGL’s use of Centrepay not audited for two years despite allegations it wrongly took $700,000 from vulnerable Australians

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Services Australia says it is also working to retrieve overpayments from Queensland’s Ergon Energy

The federal government has not audited AGL’s use of Centrepay in two years despite revelations that the energy giant wrongly received more than $700,000 in welfare money from its former customers through the government-run debit system.

A Guardian Australia investigation of Centrepay, a system allowing businesses access to welfare payments before they hit recipients’ bank accounts, has revealed significant failings.

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BBC likely to redact some of emails it must release over Martin Bashir scandal

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Broadcaster expected to use Freedom of Information Act to stop full disclosure, tribunal told

The BBC is expected to redact some of the almost 3,000 emails it must release about its handling of the Martin Bashir scandal, a tribunal has heard.

A judge told the broadcaster to hand over the material earlier this month, two-and-a-half years after the journalist Andrew Webb used freedom of information (FoI) laws to ask to see it.

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Kerry Packer was proposed as mediator in Thatcher’s fight to stop Spycatcher memoir

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Counsel for ex-MI5 officer Peter Wright suggested role for Australian media tycoon but idea was swiftly rejected

The Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer was suggested as a mediator in the fight by Margaret Thatcher’s government to prevent the publication of Spycatcher, the memoirs of former MI5 officer Peter Wright, according to newly released official papers.

The offer was made by Wright’s Australian counsel – and future Australian prime minister – Malcolm Turnbull as part of a proposed out-of-court settlement, files released by the National Archives show.

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Australia’s freedom of information system ‘dysfunctional and broken’, inquiry finds

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Senate panel’s Labor members disagree with report, saying opposition-led probe failed to acknowledge Coalition’s ‘longstanding attempts to weaken’ FoI laws

Australia’s freedom of information regime has become “dysfunctional and broken” after years of funding and resourcing neglect and chronic backlogs caused in part by a pro-secrecy culture within the bureaucracy, a Senate committee has found.

The recent resignation of the freedom of information commissioner, who was less than 12 months into a five-year term, has also been described as a “symptom” of the troubles faced by the system designed to make federal government processes transparent.

The watchdog has been facing increasing scrutiny in recent years as a result of an ever-growing backlog of requests to review FoI decisions, hampered by bureaucratic and legislative roadblocks.

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