Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

My apologies for the inconvenience, colleagues, and thank you for providing quorum. In response to Senate motion No. 490: order for the production of documents, review of the HELP ATO payments system, I advise the Senate that my colleague the Minister for Education is maintaining his claim of public interest immunity in relation to these documents.

Order for the production of documents No. 374 requests all correspondence, directions, notes, briefs and other communications received by or sent to the Minister for Education or the Department of Education concerning the Minister for Education's review of the HELP ATO payments system. I'm advised by the minister that he responded to that order, and enclose documents, with the exception of documents related to cabinet deliberations which were prepared for the dominant purpose of briefing a minister on a cabinet submission and to ensure cabinet remains an appropriate forum for informed consideration of policy advice. This is consistent with longstanding practices under previous governments.

As the Senate is aware, the minister released the Australian Universities Accord final report on 23 February and indicated the government is considering its response to this. The documents requested and not already provided by the minister are documents that will inform and be the subject of cabinet deliberations as part of the government's response to the accord's final report and were prepared for the dominant purpose of briefing a minister on a cabinet submission related to this.

Disclosure of these documents is not in the public interest and is expected to reveal cabinet deliberations. It is in the public interest to preserve the confidentiality of cabinet deliberations to ensure cabinet remains an appropriate forum for informed consideration of policy advice. Release of these documents could set a precedent and compromise the ability to confidentially brief the Australian government in its cabinet deliberations and may materially impact the functioning of government as confidentiality enables frank advice and fully informed decision-making.