Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Attorney-General. At the National Press Club on 12 October 2022, you said that you would work hard to ensure that there is 'as much transparency as possible', specifically around ministerial diaries. My 'Clean Up Politics Act' would require publication of all ministerial diaries for all Australians to see. Why won't you support my Clean Up Politics Act?

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do thank the member for Kooyong for her question. Our government is, as she indicated in the preamble to her question, completely committed to accountability and completely committed to integrity. That's why we have reformed the administrative review system. But when it comes to the suggestion that there should be some blanket categorisation under the Freedom of Information Act where any category of document is automatically available, we don't accept that position. There should be a series of exemptions which are to be considered by decision-makers when requests are made for the release of government documents. Those exemptions are set out in great detail in the Freedom of Information Act. They have served Australia well and will continue to do so. I repeat: we are not in favour of any kind of blanket categorisation of documents that are automatically available.