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International Law

Open and Shut

Issues associated with Freedom of Information (FOI) and privacy legislation in Australia as well as privacy issues generally.

Post Frequency: 4/day

Last Entry: October 30, 2020 at 10:02:02

Four years hard labor on Court Information Bill

Posted on April 08, 2010
Attorney General Hatzistergos in The Australian explains how the NSW Court Information Bill reflects the various interests that go towards public confidence in the justice system and why the government is confident it has struck the right balance, while Susannah Moran elsewhere in the paper claims the bill is far more restrictive in some respects than a proposal put by Chief Justice Spigelman...

More open government needs more than black letter lawyering

Posted on April 08, 2010
Pushing for agency compliance with the law is an important element in seeking to achieve the worthy objects spelled out in access to information laws, and we are seeing a bit more of this in guidance issued by the NSW Office of Information Commissioner this week on what is required regarding publication of open access information...

The Age in top form on integrity failings

Posted on April 06, 2010
A terrific report by Katharine Murphy in The Age about the sidelining of the Auditor General from a role in policing money to be spent in taxpayer-funded advertising campaigns- a major integrity reform introduced by a government that had promised to be cleaner than its predecessor...

Scoring the local on food hygiene could make us all feel better

Posted on April 05, 2010
It's almost four years since the issue of transparency regarding hygiene standards in restaraunts was first mentioned here, and Matthew Moore of the Sydney Morning Herald began exposing excessive secrecy surrounding this issue, so terrific to see the NSW Government and local councils now preparing to introduce a score system that that moves things up a notch...

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NSW Information Commissioner appointed

Posted on April 01, 2010
I haven't seen the announcement but understand that Deidre O'Donnell, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and a former Western Australian Ombudsman has been announced nominated today as NSW Information Commisioner. We wish her well. Update...

FOI separate world from Advisory Committee proposals for creating more open government

Posted on March 31, 2010
The Advisory Committee report to the Prime Minister Ahead of the Game: Blueprint for Reform of Australian Government Administration released this week identifies four broad areas where Australian Public Service performance can be improved and nine interdependent reforms, supported by twenty-eight recommendations to deliver these outcomes...

FOI in the frame sometimes

Posted on March 31, 2010
Freedom of Information did rate a mention when 19 departmental secretaries had a chat in 2008 with the Remuneration Tribunal about the challenges of the job, as summarised in a report by John Egan released this week. As did managing illegal and inappropriate directions, and delivering programs which have a political purpose and are not in the national interest...

Media buffs and FOI reform advocates only

Posted on March 30, 2010
In Crikey today, Margaret Simons picks up on my recent post about Australia's Right to Know and, publicly at least, what seems a limp effort on reform of freedom of information laws, particularly in awareness raising and mobilising potential allies to the cause...

Disclosure of former MPs names and expenses in the public interest.

Posted on March 29, 2010
In a case before Western Australian Information Commissioner Sven Bluemmel involving the Department of Premier and Cabinet, an unnamed former member of state parliament, V, one of 33 who objected to the disclosure of their names (six didn't) in a document detailing the type and amount of expenses paid, has failed in a bid to argue that disclosure would not be in the public interest...

FOI reform record fails to score a mention in NSW leaders debate

Posted on March 28, 2010
The NSW leaders televised debate on Friday saw Premier Keneally proclaim her pride in leading the Labor government despite its current public standing and record, and Opposition leader O'Farrell making much of his five priorities which include a number of commitments to make government more accountable, including an independent audit of the state's finances, and commitments on election financing and donations, lobbyist regulation, Freedom of Information and the ICAC...

Order of Australia Honours Secretariat subject to FOI Act

Posted on March 28, 2010
Senator Bob Brown in Estimates hearings in February raised an issue about the Order of Australia Council, noting it was not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. He and others concerned about transparency and accountability in this area will be interested to hear that documents held by Honours Secretariat staff of an administrative nature are in fact subject to the Act...

Integrity could benefit from twice promised ALRC review of private sector disclosures

Posted on March 25, 2010
Ross Gittins in Integrity flourishes in openness in the Sydney Morning Herald found an eye-opener in a new book, The Economics of Integrity, by the New York journalist Anna Bernasek, published by HarperCollins: markets and everyday transactions are based on mutual trust and confidence...

FOI reform voices: co-ordination and leadership missing in action

Posted on March 25, 2010
Richard Ackland in The right to know only what it wants in the Sydney Morning Herald takes The Australian to task over a suppression order sought to prevent publication of a report in which it features, because it contains ''matters critical of the conduct of the applicants that adversely affects the business and commercial reputation of the [publisher] and the personal and professional reputation of the [editor]''...

NSW leaders to go at it, hopefully with a nod to FOI reform

Posted on March 24, 2010
Tomorrow NSW Premier Keneally and Opposition leader O'Farrell are in debate (on Sky) one year out from the NSW election. I'm hoping the stalled NSW Freedom of Information reforms get a mention. As noted in February the Premier has said nothing on the subject that I'm aware of since she came to office, thereby sending a different message about the pace and scope of anticipated change after predecessor Rees used a megaphone to foreshadow what was to be expected from the commencement of the GIPA act...

Actions belie big promises of open and transparent government

Posted on March 22, 2010
In a weekend in which two incumbent state Labor governments suffered swings of 7 and 12 per cent, suggesting regardless of the result both are on the nose, and the SA government without waiting for the poll to be declared, is in the news today kicking off a Labor listens" campaign, commentary in the weekend papers about developments in other jurisdictions wasn't encouraging:Paul Austin in The Age Door shuts on open policy "Once the champion of democratic reform, Brumby's Labor is now a liability...

Government response to Senate Committee

Posted on March 22, 2010
The Government's response to the Senate committee report on the Freedom of Information reform bills has been released, with circulation of Supplementary Explanatory memoranda. With regard to the major issue of contention, as far as the Committee was concerned, the change of onus in the Tribunal to the party that seeks review, the Government proposes removal of the concept of onus altogether from both Information Commissioner and AAT review...

Whistleblower scheme details include a few qualifications on Dreyfus.

Posted on March 18, 2010
On the Government response to the Dreyfus Report on whistleblower protection, I'm happy to go with experts like Dr AJ Brown of Griffith University and others quoted in today's Australian saying the scheme as outlined is close to world best practice. Some points from my reading suggest the devil as usual is in the detail and some responses won't please everyone...

NSW laws not to commence "soon"

Posted on March 18, 2010
NSW Attorney General John Hatzistergos had more to say when asked a Dorothy Dixer about Freedom of Information reform in Parliament yesterday (Hansard 12). Without actually mentioning a date its clear from his remarks that the Government Information (Public Access) Act can't start anytime soon, with the words used to date, "in the near future" and "early 2010," now replaced with "later this year...

FOI reform in NSW..ditto

Posted on March 17, 2010
Then there's NSW where the process of finding an Information Commissioner commenced in September last year, with still no announcement of an appointment, and a new act passed the Parliament in June last year but is yet to commence. This Q&A in Parliament on Tuesday were the first words, few as they are, from the Attorney General on the subject: FREEDOM OF INFORMATIONMs LEE RHIANNON: I direct my question without notice to the Attorney General...

FOI reform...still coming

Posted on March 17, 2010
With Federal Parliament about to take a seven week break, the fine print of Minister Ludwig's comment on the Senate Committee report this week on Freedom of Information reform legislation that "the Government hopes to have the Bills before the Senate next sitting" is another reminder of the slow tortuous process associated with what the Government called in its first year in office a "high priority reform...

Praise for whistleblower protection proposals that deliver Dreyfus +

Posted on March 17, 2010
The Commonwealth Government in responding to the Dreyfus report on whistleblower protection has accepted 22 of the 26 recommendations (detail on this not yet available) and, as reported in The Australian, won praise from whistleblowers and legal academics for delivering a scheme that goes beyond the more limited schemes in force in the states, and addresses what was seen as a flaw in the report, extremely tightly drawn circumstances that would justify a public or media disclosure of wrong-doing...

FOI Reform Bill to face opposition in the Senate

Posted on March 16, 2010
The Senate Finance and Public Administration Report on the Freedom of Information Reform (Amendment) Bill and the Information Commissioner Bill tabled in the Senate today suggests the Government has some negotiating ahead to get the legislation passed...

ALRC on secrecy No 3:assorted other issues

Posted on March 15, 2010
Other bits and pieces from the Australian Law Reform Commission Report Secrecy Laws and Open Government in Australia (posts 1 and 2 if you missed them). The unspecified contribution to the culture of secrecy of the practice of requiring of an officer an oath that goes beyond the strict letter of the law is of particular interest...

ALRC on secrecy No 2: FOI issues

Posted on March 15, 2010
Freedom of Information related issues feature prominently in the Australian Law Reform Commission Report Secrecy Laws and Open Government in Australia released last week (see earlier post). Chapter 2 discusses secrecy in the context of open government; Chapter 14 provides a framework for effective information handling; Chapter 15 addresses the associated culture change issues; and Chapter 16 examines the inter-action of secrecy provisions with the FOI, Archives and Privacy acts, and with claims of parliamentary privilege...

Sunshine Week and the never-ending story

Posted on March 14, 2010
It's Sunshine Week in the US, again leaving those here who would like to see media organisations really step up to the plate on the public's right to know and why it's important, green with envy at the resources, professionalism and wide scope of and support for the initiative...

ALRC on secrecy, calls for new balanced framework

Posted on March 11, 2010
The Australian Law Reform Commission report Secrecy Laws and Open Government in Australia (ALRC Report 112) was tabled in Parliament today after a 15-month inquiry, and welcomed by the Attorney General and the Special Minister of State, but nothing more at this stage...

Tony Fitzgerald speaks in the search for a Button and a Missen

Posted on March 11, 2010
There aren't too many respected voices on the issue of integrity up there with former anti-corruption Royal Commissioner and judge Tony Fitzgerald QC, so these comments about the state of the game in a speech reported by ABC News deserve attention: "Decisions favouring special interests are common...

Government grants out in the open, in some places.

Posted on March 10, 2010
In addition to the Commonwealth contract information in the public domain that has had a going over in the Sydney Morning Herald this week, another public disclosure advance worth noting is the publication of Government grants. I haven't checked what's there and what isn't but a big tick for putting grants from various agencies up on a single site...

Paydirt for digging deep on published contract information

Posted on March 09, 2010
Linton Besser's articles in today's Sydney Morning Herald about Defence contracts result from a three month investigation, and show plenty of questionable and sometimes worse examples of profligate spending by the Department.The articles themselves give the lie to the old line that if it's public there's no story...

"National security" shroud part of the problem at Defence

Posted on March 09, 2010
The outstanding series of articles on Defence spending in the Sydney Morning Herald by Linton Besser and colleagues includes more details of extravagance today, with Minister Faulkner asking questions including if senior management knows what is going on:'There are issues about the culture in the organisation...

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