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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

Privacy and the media-occassional mistakes or something more?

Posted on March 27, 2009
John Hartigan of News Ltd and Australia's Right to Know acknowledged during his opening comments (speech) at the Free Speech Conference, "the media does make mistakes, as some of our newspapers realised last week ... and more mistakes will happen", but blamed this on human frailty-something we all know about- rather than malice or arrogant disregard...

Pro-active publication of information a good move, but we could lift the game.

Posted on March 26, 2009
The Government's Freedom of Information Amendment (Reform) Bill 2009 - PDF will among many other things, impose an obligation on each Federal government agency to develop a plan, and to pro-actively publish on the web a range of information about what it does and how it does it, plus information that is relied upon in making decisions that affect members of the public...

Minister's mistake raises broader issue of parliament and transparency.

Posted on March 26, 2009
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon is in the spotlight now over his failure to declare on the Register of Interests that two trips to China years ago were paid for by a long-time friend and well-connected Chinese born Australian businesswoman/property developer who has made substantial donations to the ALP...

Responses to FOI proposals.

Posted on March 25, 2009
Some citizens speak:From letters in The Australian:Faulkner, freedom fighter: Three cheers for John Faulkner, a rare politician with the guts and integrity to put the interests of the whole community ahead of the interests of his party with the drafting of the new freedom of information laws...

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FOI for Boffins

Posted on March 25, 2009
I mentioned recently that a journalist had asked me where to find FOI for Dummies but if such a publication exists it won't be much help in coming to grips with the fine print of the Government's proposed reforms contained in the Exposure Draft Freedom of Information Amendment (Reform) Bill 2009...

Australia's Right to Know

Posted on March 24, 2009
I'm just back from Australia's Right to Know Free Speech Conference and would say that the day was a highly positive discussion of many issues of interest and concern around the topic. (The speakers' papers should be here but not when I looked.)With one notable exception: the discussion about the media and privacy was pathetic, largely because the issue was framed by News Ltd's lawyer Richard

The morning after.

Posted on March 24, 2009
Those reptiles of the press were busy after yesterday's Free Speech conference as you will see through the links in this Google News search. Most are generally positive about the Freedom of Information proposals but cautious and conscious of the task ahead and what is involved, not just in FOI, to turn the secrecy ship around...

There should be no quibbles about this right to know , but there are.

Posted on March 23, 2009
Not a Melbourne photo as far as I know.The quaint idea that compliance with safety standards at particular premises in the handling of food for public consumption is a matter of interest only to the food safety inspector and the business concerned is still alive and well in most places around the country...

Other voices on confusion in the media about the public interest.

Posted on March 23, 2009
From ABC Radio PM, before the weekend apologies:Professor of Journalism at UTS, Wendy Bacon:I mean, what could possibly - let's assume the photographs were the photographs of the person they're meant to be - what would be the public interest in publishing photos of someone undressed, you know, many years before?I can't see in this case there's a public interest argument...

All happening in Sydney on Tuesday.

Posted on March 23, 2009
Australia's Right to Know Free Speech Conference on Tuesday 24 March- if you won't be there check the program details. If something- the whole thing- grabs you and you have Foxtel or Austar tune in to live coverage on Channel 607.Otherwise, access the live stream here...

ABC ranges over media low and high.

Posted on March 23, 2009
Jonathon Holmes on Media Watch on ABC television last night had a go at the full story behind the publication of the Telegraph photos and the weekend apology, describing the whole episode as "one of the most spectacular examples of lousy journalism we've seen in Australia for quite a while...

News really sorry the photos weren't Pauline, but that was all.

Posted on March 22, 2009
"Pauline Hanson: I've said all week I'd be the first person to apologise to you if it were proven the pictures we published last weekend were not of you. I am now convinced we have the proof they were presented to us as part of an elaborate con. So Pauline, I'm sorry...

The inside story on the " publish' decision.

Posted on March 19, 2009
The detail of some of this may be way beyond your level of interest but Chris Merritt Legal Affairs Editor of The Australian today in" When public interest and privacy collide in Pauline Hanson nude photo case" provides a platform for Daily Telegraph Editor Neil Breen to tell us about the decision-making process to publish, what steps were taken to check the legitimacy of the photos and why he

The right to know AND the right to privacy.

Posted on March 18, 2009
There are few journalists or media executives in Australia with anything like the 'right to know " credentials of Jack Waterford, earned over 30 odd years with the Canberra Times, a pioneer in the effective use of Freedom of Information law in investigative journalism, and these days Editor-at- Large...

"Stick to FOI reform, Rudd urged"

Posted on March 18, 2009
Missed this in The Australian on Monday- but yes, it's what I and others have been saying for a l....o...o...n..g time now. We will be all ears at the Australia's Right to Know Conference in Sydney next Tuesday when Minister Faulkner unveils the Government's second phase Freedom of Information reforms...

Queensland election: the meaning of silence?

Posted on March 18, 2009
Queenslanders vote on Saturday- millions of words and thousands of photo opportunities over the last four weeks. But I can't find a word, issue or concern about openness, transparency and accountability on the ALP or LNP campaign websites. (Weren't the activities of lobbyists an issue for example just before the election was called?) Meanwhile the draft Right to Information Bill...

Clayton Utz calls it straight on privacy and some in the media

Posted on March 17, 2009
Whoever wrote "The right to know..what?" for Clayton Utz law firm knows a thing or two, and not just about the laws on privacy. A couple of extracts:"One sees more items in the media in defence of "the public's right to know" than items expressing concern about intrusions into the private lives of individuals...

Another hard to beat exemption.

Posted on March 17, 2009
It's also hard to beat an exemption claim that release of information would harm international relations when a foreign government says this will result- as was the case this week when Minister Wong revealed Japan had told the Government this would follow any disclosure of additional footage of Japanese whaling activities in the Southern Ocean...

Disappointed applicant but hard to toss this professional reasoning.

Posted on March 17, 2009
A brief comment on a Freedom of Information knock-back in the news over the last few days.The Department for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy refused Tech Wired access to the Panel of Experts Report on the National Broadband Network, primarily on grounds that the document was prepared for submission to cabinet, and in addition that it satisfied the internal working document

The Australian resumes war on a cause of action against privacy

Posted on March 16, 2009
Can't disagree with the headline "Democracy demands an informed public" in the Weekend Australian. But that doesn't go for some of the content in the opinion piece by John Hartigan- News Limited Chairman and CEO, and the lead figure of Australia's Right to Know - particularly points he makes about privacy and the media in arguing against the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC 108) proposal

Someone's old photos and the right to privacy

Posted on March 16, 2009
ABC TV's Media Watch last night also looked at the "Hanson' photos and media standards regarding privacy. This from the transcript was particularly telling:"So what was the public interest in publishing these photos?We asked Helen McCabe that question yesterday...

Media FOI moves.

Posted on March 15, 2009
No " What they Won't Tell You" column by Matthew Moore (left) in Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald for the second week in a row- perhaps an unfortunate casualty of his appointment as Urban Affairs Editor in addition to his FOI Editor job. The weekly column has been a must read since inception three years ago and has provided a unique angle on what goes in FOI land...

Shades of Bleak House in NSW ADT

Posted on March 12, 2009
Some NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal cases roll on and on, provoking memories of Jarndyce in Dickens' Bleak House where the case outlived everyone who knew anything about it.Take this recent privacy decision by the Appeal Panel in a case by an unnamed applicant (WL) against Randwick City Council...

Sunshine Week sets a shining example.

Posted on March 12, 2009
Next week 15-21 March is Sunshine Week in the US- a media initiated annual national campaign designed to heighten public awareness of the importance of open government.This year one feature will be a report on surveys of the information states make available on the web, undertaken in association with the American Society of Newspaper Editors' Freedom of Information Committee, the National

House of Reps speakers on Whistleblower Report

Posted on March 12, 2009
In case you were looking for a bit more about the Dreyfus Report on whisleblower protection these comments from speakers in the House of representatives following the tabling the previous day are of interest.I didn't know that Melissa Parke, Member for Fremantle who provided some useful context, worked with the UN in Kosovo, Gaza, Beirut, Cyprus, and New York, and brings with her from there,

Federal Opposition shows contempt for transparency and accountability

Posted on March 11, 2009
I can't add anything more or say it better than Bernard Keane writing in Crikey today, so here are most of his comments about an important vote in the Senate that didn't get much attention in the major media:"...yesterday probably witnessed the low point in political accountability in this Parliamentary term...

Business-as usual- in Western Australia.

Posted on March 11, 2009
Six months in office, the Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett on Tuesday in a statement to Parliament outlined the Government's plans for the year ahead. It's a full agenda of issues and challenges. While "Government Accountability" made it into the headline there is nothing much in the speech on the subject although full marks for establishing the Public Service Commission"to restore and

Sunset and sunrise for Victorian FOI regulation.

Posted on March 11, 2009
That report in The Age earlier in the week about community health centres to be excluded from the Victorian Freedom of Information Act was based on the proposed rewrite of the Freedom of Information Regulation 1998 which sunsets in April 2009. (Thanks to a Queensland reader for the lead!!!)The draft regulation lists organisations prescribed as agencies for the purposes of the Act and office

Union access and workers privacy-serious issue or storm in a teacup?

Posted on March 10, 2009
Interesting that one of the hot issues in the Senate over the Government's industrial relations legislation to replace Workcover is the union right to enter the workplace and to access records of non-members and members alike in certain circumstances...

Senate Committee says yes to no conclusive certificates.

Posted on March 10, 2009
The Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee reported yesterday on the Federal Government's legislation to abolish conclusive certificates from the Freedom of Information Act and recommended...."that the Senate pass the bill."That's it, apart from some additional comments from the three Opposition Senators (who supported the Bill in any event) that in reality conclusive certificates

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