International Law

Press Freedom and the Public's Right to Know

Posted on May 18, 2010
Mike CarltonOne of the many offerings at the Sydney Writers Festival this week. Saturday, May 22 10:00 - 11:00 Sydney Dance Company, Studio 2/3 Pier 4/5, Hickson Road Walsh Bay. Mike Carlton moderates a discussion with David Marr, 2009 Walkley Award winning Seven Network FoI editor Michael McKinnon and former Washington correspondent Anne Davies about freedom of expression and freedom of the press in Australia...

WA review of FOI processes

Posted on May 17, 2010
The Western Australian Information Commissioner is conducting a review into the manner in which Western Australian State and local government agencies administer the freedom of information (FOI) process. Submissions closed on 30 April and the review is expected to be completed by August 2010...

Government repeats commitment to "private sector FOI" inquiry

Posted on May 17, 2010
It's been mentioned twice before by Government speakers going all the way back to Senator Faulkner in March last year. The mention of acting on this by the end of 2009 has long faded. There hasn't been a skerrick of detail. But it popped up again in the Second Reading Speech in the Senate on the Freedom of Information Reform bills last week...

Draft privacy reform legislation due "early in 2010"

Posted on May 16, 2010
Also in the Second Reading speech on the Freedom of Information Reform bills in the Senate last week, this indication of intention to proceed with legislation to shift personal information applications from FOI to privacy legislation, and to release draft privacy reform legislation "early in 2010"...

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Intelligence agencies remain out of FOI focus

Posted on May 16, 2010
The Greens Senator Ludlam in speaking in the Senate last Thursday to his unsuccessful motion for removal of the blanket  exemption of intelligence agencies from the Federal Freedom of Information Act, asked the Minister several times but failed to get a response: What is it about Australian security agencies that should render them entirely immune to freedom of information that does not apply, for example, to the CIA, to United States intelligence agencies and to intelligence agencies like MI5 or MI6 in Britain which are subject to freedom of information laws?" He could have added New Zealand there as well...

NSW Information Commissioner set to lead the revolution

Posted on May 16, 2010
Ben Rushton SMHBest wishes for an exciting journey. NSW Information Commissioner Deidre O' Donnell, a week into the job, told Matthew Moore of the Sydney Morning Herald  she is ready for the challenge of leading from the front on implementation of the GIPA act, to commence on 1 July...

How Federal FOI Reform bills became noncontroversial

Posted on May 16, 2010
The easy passage for the Federal Freedom of Information Amendment (Reform) Bill and the Australian Information Commissioner Bill through the Senate last Thursday - all done in 30 minutes flat, without a division -came from agreement behind the scenes that the legislation would go through as noncontroversial...

Federal FOI reform: Australia's Right to Know loves it.

Posted on May 13, 2010
You know my "good, welcome, but.." reaction to the FOI reform bills and the "opportunity missed" list I've run up at various points since the Exposure Draft appeared in March last year. Then there's the "proof of the pudding" and all that.Australia?s Right to Know thinks its excellent - not a gap or weakness in sight today...

Federal FOI reforms through Parliament in a flash in the end

Posted on May 13, 2010
I haven't checked what amendments were made in the end but Parliament has passed the FOI Reform legislation. The following message just in from PM&C. It's good and welcome change. Commencement is still some months down the track:  The Government?s FOI reform legislation, the Australian Information Commissioner Bill 2010 and the Freedom of Information Amendment (Reform) Bill 2010, passed through the Parliament today...

FOI onus in AAT-status quo preserved

Posted on May 13, 2010
On what became something of a controversial issue following tabling of the Freedom of Information Reform bills in Parliament last November the Government quietly backed off before final debate on the legislation on the proposal to change the onus of proof so that a party seeking review in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal would carry the burden of making its case...

Civil liberties rate in UK Coalition accord

Posted on May 13, 2010
Thanks to Bob Burton for a reference to the UK Coalition Government agreement  which includes: 10. Civil libertiesThe parties agree to implement a full programme of measures to reverse the substantial erosion of civil liberties under the Labour Government and roll back state intrusion...

Federal Information Commissioner cashed up

Posted on May 13, 2010
The Federal Government's Budget Papers for 2010-2011 (PM&C Portfolio Budget  Statement- Program1. 4) include an entry for the Office of Information Commissioner allocating $1.5 million in the revised budget for 2009-2010 (last year's papers included $2...

The state of things in Queensland

Posted on May 12, 2010
In debate on the Federal Freedom of Information Reform bills in Canberra yesterday Opposition backbencher Peter Lindsay (from Queensland) likened the proposals to changes adopted in Queensland last year. He's right, in a fashion. But he went on to criticise developments there drawing on a media release by the state opposition leader last November headed ?Accountability a joke under Bligh 'and stating 'Premier Bligh is living in a fool?s paradise if she thinks her government is setting the national agenda for accountability...

It wasn't all the Budget in Canberra yesterday.

Posted on May 12, 2010
Those Federal Freedom of Information reform bills did get a run in the House of Representatives yesterday when the Second Reading debate resumed following introduction of the bills last November. The Government has the numbers in the House so the bills can sail through there at any time of its choosing, but the Senate is a different matter: Opposition support or the votes of all third party and independent senators will be needed to assure passage there...

E-health-more money, some confusion

Posted on May 12, 2010
The Budget announcement of a $466.7 million investment over the next two years in the national e-Health records system saw a lot of emphasis on benefits to come, secure access, and rigorous governance and oversight to maintain privacy, .PDF printable version of Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records for All Australians (PDF 24 KB) Dr David More at the Australian Health Information Technonogy blog raises  questions about how the money is to be spent, and by whom...

FOI front and center at Press Freedom Day

Posted on May 10, 2010
The World Press Freedom Day Conference in Brisbane last week on the theme of Freedom of Information, the Right to Know, included a Masterclass involving (as Part 1) Queensland Information Commissioner Julie Kinross, Rick Snell of the University of Tasmania, Toby Mendell from Canada and Michael McKinnon of Seven Network...

NSW new era from 1 July; but as to Canberra...?

Posted on May 10, 2010
Deidre O'Donnell the inaugural NSW Information Commissioner took up her position yesterday and Government has announced the Government Information (Public Access) Act will commence on 1 July 2010, replacing the Freedom of Information Act from that date...

Sunshine the best detergent

Posted on May 05, 2010
From the Sydney Morning Herald tonight under the headline MP admits deliberately misleading parliament over signing blank forms:Penrith Labor MP Karyn Paluzzano (who resigned earlier in the week as a parliamentary secretary) admitted at a corruption inquiry today she misled parliament by signing either blank or partly completed staff payment forms...

Google releases government requests data

Posted on May 05, 2010
Google's Government Requests Tool  launched on 20 April provides information about requests for user data or content removal received from government agencies or arising from court orders around the world. In the last six months o f last year Australian government agencies made 155 requests for information including 17 for remove all or some information:14 from You Tube, and 1 each from Blogger and Geo and a web search...

MEAA report on press freedom

Posted on May 05, 2010
The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance report on the state of press freedom in Australia released on 30 April is a comprehensive and useful survey of the field, and developments over the last 12 months including secrecy in government, Freedom of Information, whistleblower protection, shield laws, defamation and SLAPP, copyright, spin, anti terror restrictions-the lot...

Australian free speech report card

Posted on May 03, 2010
On World Press Freedom Day, News Ltd boss and Australia's Right to Know leader John Hartigan writing in The Australian provides a report card on progress on free speech issues, suggesting  on the surface little has changed in three three years since he accused the Howard administration of being "the most secretive government we've ever had, even in wartime...

Gov 2.0 inching forward

Posted on May 03, 2010
The Federal Government in an announcement yesterday accepted most recommendations made in the Gov 2.0 Task Force Report of last December, including to make a Declaration of Open Government, and to other initiatives generally to promote greater openness and transparency, including talking this issue up with the states...

China blocks me!

Posted on May 01, 2010
I'm in Hong Kong this week after 15 days in China (fantastic and all that) where I found that access to Open and Shut is blocked.The thought of Chinese officials beavering away to find me in the blogosphere, making sense of my ramblings and then cutting  access seems a bit bizarre...

China blocks me!

Posted on April 30, 2010
I'm in Hong Kong this week after 15 days in China (fantastic and all that) where I found that access to Open and Shut is blocked.The thought of Chinese officials beavering away to find me in the blogosphere, making sense of my ramblings and then cutting  access seems a bit bizarre...

China bound

Posted on April 13, 2010
I'm in China and Hong Kong for the next couple of weeks so attention to the blogoshere will be a bit more sporadic than usual.

Parliamentary integrity awards still up for grabs

Posted on April 11, 2010
The deadline for nominations for the Federal Parliamentary Integrity Awards sponsored by the Accountability Round Table has been extended to 20 April. A recent convivial exchange over a glass or two with a few friends saw some support for Minister Faulkner for the Button front bencher award and a mention for Deputy Prime Minister Gillard for talking up transparency in the education system and My School, and Parliamentary Secretary Bob McMullan, more a lifetime contribution, but no Opposition frontbenchers; and a wider field for the backbencher Missen including Melissa Parke, Mark Dreyfus and Senator Kate Lundy from the Government, Petro Georgio and Senators Russell Trood and Judith Troeth from the Opposition, Senators Bob Brown and Scott Ludlam from the Greens and independent Senator Nick Xenophon.

What if, on balance, the public interest always determined the outcome?

Posted on April 11, 2010
There's plenty of scope for "what if" thinking about government openness and transparency. John Hartigan, chairman and chief executive of News Limited, writes in What if? edited by Peta Seaton to be published on 16 April, about cabinet documents and the blanket secrecy afforded them under our freedom of information laws...

Rider in FOI determination doesn't give rise to review or amendment rights

Posted on April 08, 2010
Throwing in a few words in a notice of determination that have little to do with the decision to release or not release the requested documents did not render the decision void, voidable or otherwise invalid, and was not a matter within Tribunal jurisdiction ruled Judicial Member Malony of the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal in GA v University of Sydney[2010] NSWADT 76, a matter that clearly has plenty of history...

Ultimate exercise in futility

Posted on April 08, 2010
This action in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal by Garners Beach Habitat Action Group, a third party who objected to a submission made to the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts about a proposed development being released to the developer...

Wikileaks trumps FOI processes

Posted on April 08, 2010
Wikileaks posting of a video of a US army assault in Baghdad in 2007 that left 12 people dead, including two Reuters news agency employees, comes after Reuters spent 2½ years without success trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, according to the Sydney Morning Herald...

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