faulker03

Farrah Tomazin in The Sunday Age summarises the report commissioned in April by the Department of Premier and Cabinet into the office of Victorian FOI commissioner Lynne Bertolini​ that exposes "a litany of problems, including "unusual" procurement practices, unmet targets, and "poor conduct" towards some staff." "The final report, now with Parliament's joint accountability and oversight committee, paints the picture of a dysfunctional office, with "poor conduct" towards the two assistant commissioners; a backlog of reviews and complaints by people seeking FOI documents; and favouritism towards some staff, with "considerable anxiety and stress" among others. It also reveals: Since December 2012 the FOI office spent $825,946 on contracts with two selected legal service providers when equivalent organisations in NSW, Queensland and the federal sphere use little or no external legal advice. A further $55,000 was spe...

In a Media Release last Friday Attorney General Brandis said "Timothy Pilgrim was appointed acting Australian Information Commissioner for a three month period in July 2015 while the Government considers options for the future of the Information Commissioner position."   Today Jane Lee in Fairfax reports a spokesman for the Attorney General as saying  "The government remains committed to its budget savings measure to abolish the OAIC... The bill before the Senate to abolish the OAIC would abolish the positions of Australian Information Commissioner and Freedom of Information Commissioner.  'Considers options for the future' - "thinks carefully about choices before making a decision." Hmm...

Transparency International Australia (TIA) is supporting the TIA Queensland Regional Committee in conducting a pilot Survey in relation to public sector corruption in Australian states.  If you have the time help by completing the Survey today.

Not...  as two experts outline years of failure to pay attention to privacy protection. Dr Roger Clarke in a detailed working paper examines the last 15 years' incursions into human rights based on 'the terrorist threat' and highlights the limited attention paid to privacy impact assessment: Democracy in Australia is gravely threatened by a flood of measures harmful to human rights that have been introduced since 2001, and a large proportion of which are unjustified and not subject to effective controls. The passage of these measures through the Parliament has been achieved on the basis of their proponents' assertions and without appropriate scrutiny. Parliament had available to it various forms of impact assessment techniques, but failed to require that such methods be applied. The study reported here found that one particular form of evaluation, Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA), should have been performed, but was seldom applied, and where it was applied the process a...

It's the first indication in 15 months that a rethink of sorts is underway about plans to abolish the Office of Australian Information Commissioner. In his announcement that Timothy Pilgrim has been appointed Australian Privacy Commissioner for a period of twelve months commencing 19 October 2015, Attorney General Brandis said Pilgrim's current three month appointment as Acting Australian Information Commissioner is  "while the Government considers options for the future of the Information Commissioner position." Options haven't been mentioned previously as the government single mindedly pursued abolition of the OAIC. Legislation before the Senate would eliminate both the information commissioner and FOI commissioner positions and a whole range of FOI oversight and information policy functions.There is no majority in support of the bill in the Senate. Faced with this reality it's clearly time for a rethink. Back in May 2014 Attorney General Brandis ...

ABC picks up on Senator Conroy and Bob Katter not certifying Department of Finance entitlement expenditure for years-noted here four weeks ago.  Senator Conroy could hear feet in the corridor and has now signed for expenditure back to 2011. Bob Katter's defence amounts to are you kidding, I run two offices you know.... "More than 100 other MPs have failed to sign their half-yearly certification at least once." Certification details are listed for each reporting period.

The Nick Baker - Richard McKenzie piece in Fairfax Media on the two pronged attempt to utilise freedom of information laws to obtain data from surveys on smoking has raised some interesting issues.  However some reactions - that the applicant shouldn't be able to exercise the right to seek access to government information, that this sort of thing may frustrate public health research and may even warrant legislative amendment - seem way over the top.  ( Addendum - an opinion piece from the Los Angeles Times on the right to access scientific research undertaken at public expense-within limits. And more pertinently this on "Big Tobacco' FOI rights on The Conversation UK and this on The Conversation Australian version. I'm with Nola Ries of University of Newcastle-tobacco companies should be free to use FOI laws even if we don't like it.) Without seeing the detail of what was sought, what was released in NSW and what reasons were given for refusal of access in Vic...