‘Addiction to secrecy’: opposition and crossbench slam Labor’s ‘undemocratic’ changes to FoI – including charging fees | Freedom of information

The Albany government’s proposal to impose fees for freedom of information requests and reduce the number of documents that can be released has been widely criticized by opposition and crossbench senators as “undemocratic” and evidence of Labour’s “addiction to secrecy”.

The Labour-led Senate inquiry released its report on Wednesday recommending the bill be passed but the Coalition, the Greens and senators David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie all submitted their own reports condemning the plans.

The amendment will introduce a fee for requests, which are currently free unless they require a substantial amount of work.

They will also impose a 40-hour time limit for processing each request, change the 30-day response time from calendar days to business days, and give FOI officers the power to reject or further modify documents related to the drafting or discussion of opinions and policies.

_{Sign up: AU Breaking News Email}

The government claims the changes are necessary to deal with trivial and AI-generated requests from online trolls – although no evidence has been publicly presented as to how widespread the issue is in the public service.

Opposition senators said the government’s proposed changes were “ill-informed” and were concerned they were “unfair and undemocratic”.

The coalition’s dissenting report said, “(These changes) will undermine trust in the system, and weaken the ability to hold governments accountable. Freedom of information is not a privilege granted by government. It is the right of every Australian citizen.”

Liberal senator Leah Blyth, who is vice-chair of the committee, said that balancing the main purpose of existing legislation to allow for government transparency and public scrutiny against protecting “essential private interests” and the proper and effective operation of government “undermines the core purpose of FOI”.

The opposition, which had previously said it would not support the bill, said the government needed to provide evidence to support its claims of an increase in FoI requests generated through automation and chatbots.

Greens senator David Shoebridge criticized Labor for ignoring the evidence given to the committee and rejecting the amendments, calling it “a case study of how ego and addiction to secrecy guide their politics”.

Pocock said it was “a bad bill with no friends that will be damaging to transparency and our democracy”.

He said, “Freedom of information should be accessible to all Australians, not just those who can afford it.”

The government will need the support of the opposition or the Greens to pass the bill in the Senate.

The Attorney General, Michelle Rowland, said the government would “carefully consider” the report and said it was “committed to working in Parliament and passing ambitious reforms that will prioritize genuine FOI requests, and save taxpayers millions of dollars on anonymous, frivolous and automated requests”.

The bill was initially listed in the last meeting week but removed from the notice paper.

The last FoI inquiry in December 2023 described the FoI system as “dysfunctional and broken” due to years of funding cuts, an “absence of results” and a lack of senior disclosure advocacy “champions” in the public service.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, tasked with overseeing the regime, re-introduced the three-commissioner model with the appointment of standalone FOI and Privacy Commissioners in 2024.