Скачать или смотреть 4.11.2025 - Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025 - Second Reading

Could you think of a more beautifully ironic way for the government to debate a bill that concerns one of the greatest transparency features in our democracy: freedom of information? This government has moved debate on this bill, the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025, in the Federation Chamber late on a Tuesday night at the same time as the most critical environmental legislation is being considered in the main chamber. It's almost as if they hoped nobody would notice. I will not be supporting this legislation. This is a friendless bill that, unlike this debate, deserves to be buried.

FOI was established to give Australian citizens access to information about their government and bureaucracy and the decisions that impact their lives. It is an essential mechanism to ensure transparency, scrutiny and accountability in government and government institutions. FOI is not about making government's life easier. It is about citizens being able to hold their government to account. At a time when, all around the world, confidence in our institutions is under attack from misinformation, disinformation, populism and opportunism, we cannot defend our democracy without transparency. But, even before this legislation, access to freedom of information under this government is on the decline. In the last five years the proportion of requests in FOI has declined from nearly 50 per cent to 21 per cent. Over the past 20 years, it's fallen from 77 per cent....