faulker03

The first of three related posts. Justice Jagot in Dreyfus and Attorney General (Commonwealth of Australia) [2015] AATA 995 overturned the decision by the O ffice of the Attorney General to refuse to process a Freedom of Information application for the Attorney General's appointments diary for the period 18 September 2013 to 12 May 2014.   Justice Jagot ordered the office to process the application by Shadow Attorney General Mark Dreyfus after a finding that processing would not substantially and unreasonably interfere with the performance of the Minister's functions (Sections 24 and 24AA).   Justice Jagot was critical of and disagreed with the approach taken by the office in interpreting and applying the act's provisions on third party consultation, and the calculation of the estimated time involved in order to justify the 'substantial and unreasonable' claim: 76.... this is a case where my conclusion is ultimately based on the onus of proof. It has not...

Debate in the Senate on Senator Ludwig's Private Member's Bill the Freedom of Information Amendment (Requests and Reasons) Bill 2015 resumed for an hour last Thursday and the bill is in the list again for 3 December.  Speakers didn't add much to what was said in June , except that Senator Xenophon was the first cross bencher to speak in support.  Government senators spoke in opposition to the bill so it won't get far in the House even if Labor, The Greens and six of eight cross benchers manage to get it through the Senate.  Senator Seselja and Liberal and National Party speakers rolled out this sort of stuff before getting into the detail I, along with the coalition government, support the Freedom of Information Act and support transparency in government. It is one of our country's greatest strengths that we ensure the decisions of government are put under scrutiny and, where possible, are out in the open. This government has a strong record over the last two ye...

Markus Mannheim in The Canberra Times recently drew attention to the Freedom of Information bill drafted by Shane Rattenbury, the sole Greens MLA in the ACT Labor-led government.  Mannheim was right to suggest passage of the bill would make the territory the most transparent jurisdiction in Australia. The bill in its current form is not available and is still subject to negotiation with the Labor Party, but Mr Rattenbury tweeted that it is the draft tabled for consultation over 18 months ago with a few changes. See my comments in February 2014 with a link to the bill as it stood at that time. Now years in the making, can the bill get across the line?   @smbounds @MarkusMannheim Exposure draft on ACT Leg Reg at https://t.co/qaLhHh0fey Few changes since but basically same. — Shane Rattenbury (@ShaneRattenbury) October 27, 2015