Rex Patrick (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

That is above and beyond the law. That's an official.

I'm accepting those interjections. It is, in fact, a mandate driven down from the very, very top, from a prime minister who says, 'I am addicted to secrecy, and the Australian public will not find out what it is that we're up to'. It flows down through Mr Gaetjens and now down to the next level, where, sadly, those officials are acting in breach of the law. It's not that they're making an FOI decision that's wrong. That's not punishable. It's appealable but not punishable. But they are breaking the law in that they breached the core APS Values and the Code Of Conduct, which requires that objectivity; it requires professionalism, it requires fearless and frank advice, and, in the case of independent decision-makers, it requires the decision-maker to consider all of the facts, consider the law and make a determination. Now, I've got three of these decisions and I've seen one from a constituent that used a template format. That tells me that the department is not taking the issue seriously in terms of their approach to freedom of information.