International Law

Disclosure can help achieve policy outcomes

Posted on December 30, 2007
Summer holiday blogMost Australian governments continue to be over cautious about release of information concerning compliance by private sector bodies or government agencies with policies or standards that apply, or should apply, in the provision of goods or services that have public health or safety implications...

Rudd tells ministers actions must be open to public scrutiiny

Posted on December 30, 2007
Summer holiday BlogThe full text, of the Prime Minister's 'Standards of Ministerial Ethics', announced on 6 December, subsequently made it onto his department's website. (I know the PM has been busy and it is summertime, but it sure is taking time to get the new government websites fully up and running)...

Control and spin still in fashion?

Posted on December 20, 2007
Summer holiday blogI doubt if news that this reported attempt to control media release justifies the gloom (or is that glee) from Andrew Bolt, in the Herald Sun, that it means the Government's commitment to changing the culture of secrecy accounts for little...

Seasons Greetings

Posted on December 19, 2007
Thanks to all our readers for continuing interest in Freedom of Information, privacy and related issues as they impact on us in Australia. We are moving into summer holiday mode, so postings will be intermittent for the next couple of weeks.Hope you all have a great holiday breakCartoon by courtesy of Chris Slane

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Sharing personal information, not joy: Christmas in the UK

Posted on December 19, 2007
They're not relaxed and comfortable in the UK about government handling of personal information - first 25million recipients of child care benefit records (including bank account details) went missing, then 3million records of UK 'learner drivers' disappear in Iowa where they had been sent for processing, and now 6500 pension details (this time not including bank account numbers) have disappeared...

National Access Card binned

Posted on December 19, 2007
Due to other distractions, I missed this article in The Australian that says the Government has moved quickly to scrap the National Access Card project. After all the fuss over the last year, its demise was a strangely silent process. Can I hear in the distance the sound of lawyers arguing over cancelled contracts?Much deserved self congratulation over at the Australian Privacy Foundation.

US Congress passes FOI reforms

Posted on December 19, 2007
The US Senate and House of Representatives have finally passed legislation to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act, after much negotiation to resolve differences in versions passed by each earlier this year. It's not clear yet whether President Bush who had problems with the earlier versions will sign, or whether the Act might come into force automatically as Congress has now adjourned for the year...

US transparency reform should be emulated here

Posted on December 16, 2007
You might be reading a fair bit about Senator Barack Obama, but you may not know that he was a prime mover in getting a law through the US Congress in 2006 requiring greater transparency from the Federal Government.The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act required by January 2008 publication on a single searchable website information about Federal contracts, grants, loans, and direct payments of government money...

Minister out and off the hook following change of government

Posted on December 16, 2007
One result of a change of government, is that those who have lost office no longer need to explain discrepancies in what they had to say when they were calling the tune.Senator Helen Coonan, former Minister for Communications, won't have to tell us how it was that government advertising for the NetAlert campaign said that a survey had shown that more than half of 11-15 year olds who chatted online were contacted by strangers, when the survey, now released in full, shows that only 14% chatted or messaged "a mixture of people including strangers"...

Another FOI case bound for High Court

Posted on December 16, 2007
The High Court of Australia has granted leave to Heather Osland to appeal a Victorian Court of Appeal decision that documents that formed the basis for refusal of her mercy petition, should not be disclosed to her under the Victorian Freedom of Information Act...

The right to know about climate change

Posted on December 13, 2007
With attention focused on climate change and the talks in Bali, the US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has released a report of a 16 month investigation into allegations of political interference with government climate change science...

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