Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

If Senator Scarr chooses to listen to the rest of my contribution, he might have an answer to that question. I understand he's a bit agitated about FOI.

The Morrison government have resisted our FOI laws for the same reasons they resisted the banking royal commission. The Morrison government have resisted our FOI laws for the same reasons they have resisted establishing a genuine national integrity commission of the kind that Labor has pledged to create—because they fear transparency, fear accountability and fear the Australian public knowing what they are really up to.

This bill, introduced by Senator Patrick, is well intentioned, and many of the proposals it puts forward warrant close examination. For example, the bill would require the government to fill all three offices of the Australian Information Commissioner, the Privacy Commissioner and the Freedom of Information Commissioner rather than forcing the information commission to fill all three roles as the current government is requiring it to do. That is something the Labor Party has been calling on the government to do for some time.

The bill would also allow FOI review applicants to elect to have their matter bypass the Information Commissioner, who can take more than a year to make a decision on controversial issues in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. While we understand why Senator Patrick has put forward that proposal, it is a proposal that, in our view, treats a symptom rather than addresses the underlying issue, which is that this government has starved the Australian Information Commissioner of the resources she needs to review FOI decisions. If we were to shift more of the burden of reviewing these decisions onto AAT, the government would simply do the same thing to the tribunal—starve the FOI division of resources. Fundamentally, the biggest problem with the current freedom-of-information system is not the law; it's the current government—a government that is at war with accountability, a government that is at war with transparency and a government that is at war with itself. Labor has a strong track record of respecting our FOI laws and will do so again if we are returned to government.

I will now say a little about Labor's proud record on FOI. We in Labor understand that freedom-of-information laws are an important aspect of a healthy democracy because they give the Australian public and media access to information about what the government, elected by the Australian people, is doing in their name. Labor have long championed FOI laws with the establishment of the Commonwealth FOI Act, a part of Labor's policy platform since 1972 when Gough Whitlam first called for such laws in a speech when he was opposition leader. Though these laws were not passed for another decade, it is yet another example of the reformist vision that characterised Gough Whitlam and reinforced his place in history as a great leader of this nation.

Since FOI laws were first introduced in Australia in the 1970s, Labor has worked to strengthen these laws to improve transparency in government and to champion the public's right to know. Prior to the 2007 election, the federal Labor Party made an election commitment to substantially overhaul the FOI Act as part of its policy platform to restore trust and integrity in government after the secrecy and abuses of public trust that characterised the later Howard years. Labor's commitments were set out in the policy document titled Government information: restoring trust and integrity.

When elected in 2007, Labor fulfilled its election commitment to restore the public's right to know. Labor engaged in extensive consultations on the proposed changes to our FOI laws in 2008 and 2009, including through a parliamentary inquiry by the Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee. The reforms were passed into law by parliament in May 2010. A key part of these improved laws was the establishment of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. This office was created to provide independent oversight of the FOI regime and to champion freedom of information across government. This reform was applauded by the public, by legal experts and by the media. In speaking on Labor's reforms to FOI laws in this place on 13 May 2010, Senator Ludwig noted that the passage of the FOI Act was a 'milestone for Australia'. He said:

The Rudd government continues to recognise that we are responsible and accountable to the people we serve. For this reason, when we were in opposition we committed to overhauling the FOI Act and we have delivered on this promise. This legislation expressly recognises that giving the Australian community access to government-held information strengthens Australia's representative democracy, recognises the role that this object serves to increase public participation in government processes and increases accountability in the government's activities.

But, since this Liberal government took power in 2013, they have been at war with freedom of information, at war with transparency, at war with accountability to the Australian people, who elected them, so Senator Patrick is to be congratulated for bringing forward this bill, which demonstrates his belief that FOI laws need to be strengthened and in the need to undo some of the harm that the Morrison government has done to our democracy in its trashing of FOI and its obsession with secrecy and cover-up. However, Senator Scarr, the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee examined this bill closely and, based on the expert evidence presented, the committee found that a number of the measures would not achieve their intended outcomes. Ultimately, the committee recommended against passing this bill. Labor accept the committee's recommendation and will not be supporting the bill at this time, but we look forward to further engagement with Senator Patrick on these important issues.