Arthur Sinodinos (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) Share this | Hansard source

Efic does have an exemption from FOI. It is limited. It relates essentially to transactional matters under parts 4 and 5 of the Efic Act. The reason for the exemption is to protect commercial-in-confidence information provided by the client. Clearly exporters will not want to provide commercially sensitive information to a financial institution that could be made public through FOI. Efic's long-held view is that the current Efic-specific exemption provides administrative certainty to Efic regarding its obligations and greater certainty to clients about its ability to maintain confidential information without which the quality of information provided to Efic may be prejudiced and Efic's ability to make informed decisions on the risks of transactions it considered supporting impaired. In turn, that would increase the risks and potentially the costs to taxpayers.

Efic's current FOI exemption is consistent with the banker's common law duty of confidentiality to clients and has been established for nearly 100 years. I would add, though, that on top of that Efic is subject to estimates and other processes of government. So there are a number of ways in which we can examine the structure and governance of the organisation. But in relation to information about particular transactions, as I indicated here, the FOI exemption is an extension of the common law doctrine of protecting financial privacy, and it is consistent with and is followed in every common law jurisdiction, including Australia.