Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

ASKEW (—) (): At the request of Senator Bragg, I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) order for the production of documents no. 350, agreed to on 17 October 2023, relating to communications between CBUS Super Fund and the Treasurer and his office since 21 May 2022, was not complied with,

(ii) on 7 November 2023, in response to the order, the Treasurer made a public interest immunity claim on the basis that the documents sought are commercial-in-confidence, and

(iii) on 5 September 2024, documents that were the subject of the order were provided following a freedom of information (FOI) request, Treasury reference no. 3331, after the Information Commissioner found against the Treasurer in an appeal and required the documents be disclosed; and

(b) requires the Minister representing the Treasurer to attend the Senate on Wednesday, 11 September 2024, at the conclusion of consideration of private senators' bills and immediately prior to government business being called on, to provide an explanation, of no more than 5 minutes, of the failure to comply with the order, the misuse of a public interest immunity claim, and how documents obtained under FOI could not be obtained by the Senate, and that:

(i) any senator may move to take note of the explanation, and

(ii) any such motion may be debated for no longer than 60 minutes, shall have precedence over all business until determined, and senators may speak to the motion for not more than 5 minutes each.

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 has a $32 billion plan to build 1.2 million new homes by 2029. Those opposite are only interested in playing political games and getting in the way of genuine action. When an FOI request is received, as required under the legislation, consultation occurs with the party involved, as the government did in the instance with Cbus. Cbus objected to the release of documents it considered to be business information, an available exemption under the FOI Act. Consistent with this, the government made a claim of public interest immunity in response to the Senate order for production of the same documents. This was done in good faith to protect business information and to ensure we can continue to undertake robust and frank stakeholder consultations which are ultimately in the public interest. We want to continue to have frank and candid consultation processes in the future, and that's why we comply with the legislation when it comes to FOIs. We released the relevant documents on 5 September 2024, in line with the information commissioner's decision in the usual way.

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

The question is that general business notice of motion No. 600, standing in the name of Senator Bragg, be agreed to.