International Law

"Critics of FOI join me" as Faulkner nails colours to the mast

Posted on May 27, 2009
There were further references to Freedom of Information in the hearing of Budget estimates of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet referred to in the last post. Mostly political point-scoring about things that had nothing to do with the Department such as this decision in March about the National Broadband Network tender...

New oversight model attracts a modicum of interest

Posted on May 27, 2009
And yes,a few questions were raised during those 23 hours of hearings about the Government's Freedom of Information Reform proposals, when the Office of the Privacy Commissioner Karen Curtis stepped up to the plate on Tuesday.(Finance and Public Administration 26/05/2009 at 38-45)Senator Ronaldson (Liberal Victoria) seems to have a bee in his bonnet about 'conflict of interest" and security of data in the proposed Information Commission office, matters that don't appear to have led to problems elsewhere when FOI and privacy oversight have been placed in a single agency...

Small postage stamps of the world unite!!

Posted on May 27, 2009
Senate Estimates hearings for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and other agencies in the portfolio dragged on for another nine hours ( with breaks) on Tuesday. (Finance and Public Administration 26/05/2009).Bloggers everywhere are reeling in the light of Minister Faulkner's admission[68]:"What I know about blog sites could be written on the back of an extremely small postage stamp...

Zero interest in Senate Estimates in transparency concerns about Parliament

Posted on May 26, 2009
The Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee ( 25/05/2009) laboured through 14 hours of questions and answers on Monday concerning Budget allocations and associated matters for the Parliament, Governor General's Office and Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet...

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Access to advice a lively issue in Estimates

Posted on May 26, 2009
Special Minister of State and Cabinet Secretary John Faulkner has been through the Senate Estimates Committee processes interminably over the years, and probably knows more about the subject than anyone other than soon to retire Clerk Harry Evans. In the Finance and Public Administration Committee (25/5/2009) Budget Estimates for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet on Monday however he came in for close questioning from WA Liberal Senator Mathias Cormann ( a drop-in on the session, who brought with him on appointment to the Senate in 2007 experience as an adviser to a WA Premier and to the former Federal Minister for Justice and Customs), about the circumstances in which ministers or public servants can refuse to provide information in response to questions...

Costello and a handy slice of the advice cake

Posted on May 25, 2009
Former Treasurer Peter Costello had a "let them eat cake" attitude to Freedom of Information while in office, pronouncing in this speech in November 2005 on the dark dangers posed by those using the Act to seek access to documents relating to policy development...

FOI battle over University of NSW medical fraud investigation

Posted on May 25, 2009
There is no new law in the decision of the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal in Chen v University of NSW (No 2) [2009] NSWADT 99, but it is a reminder of the wide meaning of some words used in FOI exemptions. In this case the issue was the exemption for documents which would disclose "matter relating to a protected disclosure"-Clause 20(1)(d) of Schedule 1 of the NSW Freedom of Information Act...

NSW OGI BIll steps into digital age

Posted on May 24, 2009
Those interested in the detail of the NSW Open Government Information Consultation Draft will find the E-Brief prepared by Dr Gareth Griffith of the NSW Parliamentary Library Research Service of interest.One point that seems to have been missed in media comment and in Griffith's excellent paper is the significant shift from the emphasis in the Freedom of Information Act on access to "documents," to a new obligation under the OGI Bill to publish and provide access to "information...

Blanket exclusions and exemptions rarely justified

Posted on May 24, 2009
Exclusions of some government agencies entirely or in respect of certain functions from freedom of information laws, and exemptions for classes of documents with no requirement to find harm from disclosure or to consider public interest factors, leave a significant hole in the principles of open, transparent and accountable government that underpin the law...

Continuous disclosure a private sector concept for some NSW agency CEOs

Posted on May 24, 2009
The NSW Auditor General last week reported on a review of Corporate Governance Arrangements in Large Government Agencies and Universities based on the 17 measures used as reference points for ASX listed companies.The review covered 50 agencies and the 10 universities...

South Australia FOI concerns not unique

Posted on May 21, 2009
South Australia has been one of the blanks (with Victoria and Western Australia) on the Australian map of the Freedom of Information reform movement of the last couple of years. Still nothing from the Government but last week former minister, now Family First member of the Legislative Council Robert Brokenshire introduced the Freedom of Information (Victimisation and Interference) Amendment Bill (Hansard LC 13 May)...

Movement at the station on transparency and accountability for parliamentarians

Posted on May 21, 2009
As to MPs allowances and expenses, today's headlines say it all. Here is a sample:The Australian: "Call for more transparency in electorate payments"ABC Online: " Rudd open to MP allowance reform" and "MPs employing family "bad form": Abbott"SMH:"We have to make allowances, but guidelines could be clearer" and "Perks and lurks or tools of the trade" and "Full list of federal MPs entitlements"Almost an anniversary- the first post on this blog about the need for reform in this area was on 24 May 2006...

Obama standard sounds pretty good from here

Posted on May 21, 2009
President Obama's speech at the National Archives in Washington covered a wide range of issues concerning intelligence, values, and national security including this: Now, let me touch on a second set of issues that relate to security and transparency...

Federal FOI Reform submissions.

Posted on May 20, 2009
The 39 non-confidential submissions on the Federal Freedom of Information Reform bills-perhaps some still to come- have now been posted. Plenty of grist I'm sure- just not the chance to read yet.

NSW aims to dispel perceptions about overseas travel

Posted on May 20, 2009
NSW Premier Nathan Rees yesterday issued an instruction to ministers concerning disclosure on the web of details including the purpose and cost of overseas travel. This follows recent on-the front-foot disclosures of costs of trips recently undertaken by him and separately by Finance Minister Joe Tripodi The Premier said "Overseas travel is undertaken by Ministers to attract investment, trade and business opportunities to the State, to learn from the policies and processes of other Governments, and to forge relationships with export markets...

Australian media find an MPs story in our own backyard after all

Posted on May 20, 2009
Australian MPs allowances-not just the UK debacle- make news today with various calls for increased accountability and transparency. My two cents worth for several years has been that the administration of parliament-including the payment of public moneys to parliamentarians-should be subject to the same standards as any other government agency...

Those MPs allowances again-or still

Posted on May 19, 2009
Maybe more than you ever wanted to know you didn't know about the subject-this is also published today on New Matilda.com

Queensland legislation roll-out

Posted on May 19, 2009
The Queensland Government yesterday introduced a raft of legislation into Parliament on accountability and transparency related matters- Right to Information Bill, Information Privacy Bill , Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Bill, Parliament of Queensland Amendment Bill and Auditor General Financial Accountability Bill...

The learning is for us, not them

Posted on May 19, 2009
The UK MP allowances expose rolls on (now 3500 articles listed on Google News) with Prime Minister Gordon Brown stating any Labour member who defied the rules won't be running in the next election, and scalps on the rise, the latest the Speaker of the House of Commons...

Joe Hockey may be all heart, but...

Posted on May 18, 2009
Peter Hartcher in Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald wrote about Shadow Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey buying a $2500 dinner for 10 at a charity auction, speculating whether it came from his pocket or courtesy of his recently increased electoral allowance...

Queensland RTI set for Parliament this week

Posted on May 18, 2009
Queensland's Right to Information Bill, to replace the Freedom of Information Act, and the Privacy Bill are to be introduced into Parliament this week, according to the Brisbane Times. No details so far about what changes if any as a result of issues raised during the consultation phase...

Federal FOI reform submission

Posted on May 17, 2009
Submissions in response to the Exposure drafts of the Federal Freedom of Information Reform Amendment Bill and associated legislation closed on Friday. My submission acnowledged the very positive proposed shift in the direction of a pro-disclosure bias in the publication scheme and in the right to access, through powerful statements of the objects of the Act and the linked list of public interest factors in favour of disclosure throgh the publication scheme and in the additrional right of access...

Shield law over the easy hurdle- now for the high jump

Posted on May 15, 2009
The Evidence Amendment (Journalists' Privilege) Bill was the subject of very good debate as it went through the House of Representatives in Canberra yesterday, without amendment. Speeches from both sides of the House were on subject and well-informed...

Oops moment for Australia's diplomacy

Posted on May 15, 2009
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith-pictured here sometime before the day in question- inadvertently tabled in Parliament on Wednesday a document summarising the current situation in Australia's negotiations with over 80 countries on various matters. The front page of the document included a note in bold saying the "sections of this schedule dealing with bilateral negotiations should not be tabled in any parliament or any committee of a parliament, or otherwise placed on the public record," but the Minister's spokeswoman states the document was not classified...

Differences over shield laws- that's just in the Committee

Posted on May 13, 2009
The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee reported yesterday (Budget day-how to get noticed) with the four Labor senators supporting the Government's proposal on a shield law for journalists but with the addition of words that would make it mandatory for a judge to take into consideration the public interest in disclosure of a protected confidence and/or protected identity information...

A story of sorts about MPs payments in our own backyard

Posted on May 13, 2009
The Australian media continue today to lap up the UK MPs expense story- in addition to the Fairfax papers, the ABC is onto it with this lead: "The British Parliament is facing one of the biggest crises in its history after a week of politically-devastating revelations about MPs' expenses claims...

Budget papers score some criticisms

Posted on May 13, 2009
www.businesspectator.com.auThe gurus on economics and government finances seem to be too flat out to date to do much in the way of a close assessment of the Federal Budget papers against the Government's own standards of transparency and accountability outlined in the Operation Sunlight policy...

Raising your privacy awareness

Posted on May 12, 2009
A couple of things from Privacy Awareness Week last week- what you missed it?Former High Court Justice Michael Kirby, and a major figure in the development of thinking about information privacy in the eighties in his capacity at the time as President of the Australian Law Reform Commission, spoke at an event organised by the Federal Privacy Commissioner...

Government shows the money for Information Commissioner's Office

Posted on May 12, 2009
The planned Office of the Information Commissioner-scheduled to come into operation with effect from 1 January 2010, after the Commonwealth Freedom of Information Reform legislation is passed by Parliament, makes it into this year's Commonwealth budget announced tonight...

The Budget : read all about it

Posted on May 12, 2009
Maybe more than you ever wanted to know about the Commonwealth Government Budget in today's news. I'll be interested to see if someone with more knowledge of these things provides an assessment of the budget papers, given the Government's commitment to Operation Sunshine ...

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