International Law

FOI delivers unhappy news on violence in schools

Posted on March 16, 2008
With some neat planning, or just one of those coincidences, media reports in News Limited papers today provide details of the incidence of violence in schools in three states, all obtained through Freedom of Information - "Shocking pupil violence report" (Courier Mail Queensland); "Louts make school living hell" (Sunday Herald Sun Victoria); "Teachers flee as attacks rise" (The Daily Telegraph NSW)...

WA Supreme Court to decide FOI status of Salaries Tribunal

Posted on March 16, 2008
The Western Australian Salaries and Allowances Tribunal has appealed to the Supreme Court the finding by the Acting Information Commissioner that found it was subject to the Freedom of Information Act. In his decision the Acting Commissioner decided that the Salaries Tribunal was not a tribunal for the purposes of an exemption for such bodies in the FOI Act - it did not exercise judicial or quasi judicial functions, was not an adjudicative body, and some of its decisions were subject to review and final decision by the government...

A real BOTPA after all?

Posted on March 16, 2008
Maybe there was a privacy angle after all in the examination of athletes' Medicare records - the Minister for Sport has ordered an immediate review and asked the Federal Privacy Commissioner for input. It might have been a better idea to do this before the program got underway.

Sunshine week shines again

Posted on March 13, 2008
Across the US next week Americans will get to hear a lot about the importance of open government and freedom of information, as Sunshine Week, led by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, gets under way.Now in its 3rd year it is designed to increase public awareness about the public's right to know what the government is doing and why, and to highlight excessive and unwarranted government secrecy...

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BOTPA strikes often

Posted on March 13, 2008
"Because of the Privacy Act" gets a workout frequently in all sorts of contexts to explain why something can't be done, sometimes with good reason, sometimes not. There has been a bit of an outbreak in "BOTPA" today:In South Australia, details of all members of parliament traffic offences cannot be released because of privacy laws, but a Liberal Party member has fessed up to four speeding offences that led to the loss of his license...

Local Government: too much public business in private

Posted on March 13, 2008
No we are not talking about Wollongong or any of the other NSW councils much in the news recently. The Victorian Ombudsman has released a report on Conflict of interest in local government (1.7MB) with a range of recommendations for improvement in governance...

Smartcard not an ID card

Posted on March 13, 2008
Cartoon by Ron Tanberg for The AgeTerrific that the Australian Financial Review is at last providing access to some free content.As a result we can tell you that the Federal Government is on the job looking at ways to tackle welfare fraud, and has left room for smartcard technology...

NSW Court of Appeal decides "no leaning" in favour of disclosure

Posted on March 13, 2008
A decision handed down by the NSW Court of Appeal this week is the latest in a long line of cases involving an applicant seeking access to documents held by Macquarie University and claimed exempt on legal professional privilege grounds. The Court dismissed the applicant's appeal and awarded costs to the University...

NSW pubs and police at one about secrecy

Posted on March 12, 2008
This editorial (second item "Mugging the public) in today's Sydney Morning Herald might be a bit tough in saying that the state government does not want you to know the restaurants where you might pick up a stomach bug - less than satisfactory legislation to require publication of serious breaches of standards has at last been introduced into Parliament...

ABC radio tomorrow morning

Posted on March 10, 2008
ABC Sydney radio 702 Wednesday morning (9.15 AEST) will feature Kelvin Bissett, Investigations Editor of the Daily Telegraph and me as guests of Deborah Cameron for a discussion of the weird and wonderful world of freedom of information.

Right on the money about transparency in delivery of funded services

Posted on March 10, 2008
Andrew Leigh of the Australian National University, writing in today's Australian Financial Review, puts the case about why the publication of hospital (and doctor) performance information would act as a spur to improve, enable the public to make better choices, and would be likely to benefit the poor more than the rich:"Under the current regime (performance) information is restricted to doctors, nurses and hospital administrators, who naturally share it with their friends...

From the weekend papers

Posted on March 09, 2008
Matthew Moore wants us to pass the hat around to shout NSW Premier Morris Iemma a ticket to Queensland where he could have a look at the extensive changes under consideration to the Freedom of Information regime by the Solomon Review.I'd think we'd be better off chartering an aircraft and doing a pick up around the country, as the issues flagged in the discussion paper seem likely to result in a total rewrite of legislation that has been the model just about everywhere...

The FOI casebook throws up some unusual angles

Posted on March 09, 2008
Some rarely raised issues emerged in these recent Freedom of Information cases around the country:Case 1. When access is sought to information about a dead person, some FOI acts require consultation prior to disclosure with the nearest or closest relative...

The FOI run run run-around

Posted on March 06, 2008
A number of newspaper reports and other freedom of information developments over the last week or so illustrate, in some instances ,that the law and the way it is applied is to avoid disclosure or give the applicant the run around. You can only wonder at the cost to the public purse, and to the damage to credibility of the organisations or governments involved...

Yes folks, its an important McKinnon win!

Posted on March 06, 2008
There are a number of noteworthy aspects of a recent Freedom of Information decision by Deputy President Forgie of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in McKinnon and Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (2008) AATA 161...

ABC radio on FOI matters

Posted on March 04, 2008
If you are within earshot of Sydney radio tomorrow (5th March), tune into 702 on the AM dial at around 9.15am (AEST) to hear a discussion between the host Deborah Cameron and two of Australia's leading FOI journalists, Michael McKinnon of Channel 7 and Matthew Moore of the Sydney Morning Herald.

Government attempts to suppress health research information

Posted on March 03, 2008
With all the fuss about Prozac and the failure of manufacturers to publish all the results of tests, it seems we have a bit of soul searching to do about government attempts to keep us in the dark about some aspects of health research.A brief item on ABC Radio's PM last Friday about the suppression of public health information by Australian governments referred to results of a survey of public health researchers undertaken by two academics from the School of Population Health from the University of Western Australia...

Round the grounds

Posted on March 02, 2008
A batch of media articles on freedom of information and related transparency in government matters over the last few days:In Victoria, the Premier was surprised at the rejection of the FOI amendment legislation; the Herald Sun hopes the government won't take the bat and go home, but looks broadly for true FOI reform...

Queensland review for public discussion this week

Posted on March 02, 2008
The Solomon Review of the Queensland Freedom of Information Act will co host with the Australian Law Reform Commission a half day seminar on its Discussion Paper next Thursday from 1.30pm in Brisbane. Details are in this flyer. Michael McKinnon FOI Editor Channel 7 plans to tell what the Review should recommend, and Rick Snell of the University of Tasmania should have just about caught his breath after returning from the Carter Conference in Atlanta, will lead a broader discussion...

A credible report card even for a self assessment

Posted on March 02, 2008
Good on the PM for taking the lead in telling us about the first 100 days of the Rudd Government. The report card includes a number of references to transparency and accountability issues including community cabinet meetings; a start on campaign finance reform through the introduction of legislation to remove tax deductibility for campaign donations; more open process for Reserve Bank appointments, release of Bank Board minutes and statements of reasons for decisions; statement of principles for the foreign investment screening process; and of course the proposed 2020 summit...

Victorian FOI amendments: baby out with bathwater

Posted on February 28, 2008
It wasn't just the vexatious applicant provision, and the proposed extension of time up to 75 days to process Freedom of Information applications that didn't survive through the Victorian Legislative Council yesterday - even the good bits went as the entire Bill failed to gain majority support...

Over excitment in Queensland about public records

Posted on February 28, 2008
Queensland Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg photo ABConlineBoth the Opposition and the Courier Mail seem to have gone off the deep end in response to a minor legislative change in Queensland that would have the effect of ensuring that documents of a parliamentary secretary are defined as "public records"...

Things aren't good, and that's before we talk about the weather

Posted on February 28, 2008
Squirrel Designs UK"He breathes, he lives. At last, NSW Premier Morris Iemma is showing a sign of life, a sign he may yet manage to escape the process of petrification".So begins this editorial in today's Daily Telegraph commenting on the announcement of reform regarding disclosure of political donations...

Forces gathering to urge revision of "vexatious applicant" provision

Posted on February 27, 2008
According to this report in the Age, the Law Institute of Victoria has added its voice to others concerned about the proposed inclusion in Victoria?s Freedom of Information Act of a ?vexatious applicant? provision. The Institute says that the provision should incorporate a requirement that a person has acted in bad faith before any finding could be made that they are vexatious...

US conference looks at FOI world challenges

Posted on February 26, 2008
Rick Snell of the University of Tasmania is the only Australian attending an invitation only conference of 100 people from 35 countries commencing today at the Carter Center in Atlanta, to address advancements and challenges to world wide access to public information laws...

Pitfalls for the unwary in pursuing review rights

Posted on February 26, 2008
Those who pursue Freedom of Information matters through the available review mechanisms can easily be undone by some of the legal technicalities. In NSW for example there have been a spate of review applications rejected on grounds that the Administrative Decisions Tribunal has no jurisdiction...

2020 Summit still open to all comers

Posted on February 25, 2008
For those of you who are still pondering putting themselves or others forward for the 2020 Summit, particularly the discussion of governance including open government issues, the deadline has been extended from today until Friday 29 February. Details here.

NSW Food Authority seals the dirt on hospital kitchens

Posted on February 25, 2008
What is the same and different, between these reports late last year in the UK papers about the state of hospital kitchens in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and this report in today's Daily Telegraph about the same subject here.The same: all are based on information obtained under freedom of information laws, and show poor compliance with hygiene standards...

NZ shows the lead on privacy and public registers

Posted on February 25, 2008
The New Zealand Law Commission has published a paper on public registers as the second stage of its Privacy Review, suggesting that the statute that creates a register to be open for public inspection should also address issues about any limitation on the use of information, and associated issues such as publication on the web...

Grand Prix Corporation Chairman on both sides of transparency debate

Posted on February 25, 2008
The Age today in ?Truth on crowds could hurt us, admits GP chief? picks up on the recent Freedom of Information decision by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to confirm the exempt status of documents about ticket sales at the Australian Grand Prix (see our earlier post)...

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