Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

The government is not supporting this OPD. MOUs are documents developed between governments and typically agreed at ministerial level. Making government-to-government agreements public has the potential to cause damage to the international relations of the Commonwealth. This is about trust, and releasing such documents has the potential to undermine the government's relationship with other countries. Moreover, it would potentially prejudice the flow of confidential information between the Commonwealth and other countries because other countries would not have the confidence that the arrangements entered into with the Commonwealth would remain confidential.