Sarah Henderson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) order for the production of documents no. 374, agreed to by the Senate on 7 November 2023, relating to the Minister for Education's review of the Higher Education Loan Program and Australian Taxation Office payments system, has only been partially complied with,

(ii) the Minister for Education, in his response to the order, dated 7 December 2023, made a claim of public interest immunity in respect of certain documents on the basis that the documents relate to Cabinet deliberations, and

(iii) it is accepted that deliberations of the Executive Council and of the Cabinet should be able to be conducted in secrecy so as to preserve the freedom of deliberation of those bodies, however, this ground relates only to disclosure of deliberations;

(b) rejects the public interest immunity claim made by the Minister for Education, noting that documents prepared for the dominant purpose of briefing a minister on a Cabinet submission are not documents which would disclose the actual deliberations of Cabinet; and

(c) requires the Minister representing the Minster for Education to fully comply with the order by no later than 5 pm on Wednesday, 28 February 2024.

Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government will not be supporting this motion. The minister has made a claim of public interest immunity in relation to certain documents sought in general business notice of motion No. 374. That claim is consistent with longstanding practices under previous governments.