Open and Shut: International Law

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> International Law Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

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

Gloomy outlook, not just for your superannuation.

Posted on February 15, 2009
You can listen to Rick Snell on 2ser's Razor's Edge discussing the state of NSW and Federal Freedom of Information reforms, welcoming the NSW Ombudsman's report, noting the less than fulsome immediate endorsement of Premier Rees and ending on the gloomy note that there must be doubt whether the Rudd Government will get the job done and dusted in this term in office...

Senate Committee short hearing for FOI Bill.

Posted on February 15, 2009
The Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee took just over an hour last Thursday for the hearing on the Freedom of Information (Removal of Conclusive Certificates and Other Measures) Bill 2008. Nothing much new or startling in the transcript of testimony as Michael McKinnon, Rick Snell, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, and the Australian Press Council spoke to their

Why a journalist's lot is not a happy one- and why it matters.

Posted on February 14, 2009
John Hartigan chairman and CEO of News Ltd in "Suffocating in Secrecy" in yesterday's Weekend Australian outlined why our freedoms are not as robust as they should be, and spells out particular concerns about the state of Freedom of Information and whistleblowers protection laws...

We're Three!

Posted on February 12, 2009
A small milestone-we've been banging away on this blog for three years this month. 1260 posts later thanks to readers out there for the encouragement( take a bow). Most of you are from Australia of course but 12% from the US and significant numbers from the UK, Canada, and NZ and a regular stream from just about everywhere around the globe...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

ACT Assembly scuttles some Government FOI proposals.

Posted on February 12, 2009
According to these Canberra Times and ABC reports, The Greens and the Opposition Liberal Party combined with success to force some changes to the Government's Freedom of Information Bill in the ACT Assembly.The reports are a bit skinny on the detail, but conclusive certificates seem to have gone completely and some proposed new exemptions appear to have been rejected...

Public broadcasters all struggle with split personality.

Posted on February 12, 2009
In November we commented about the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's almost perfect record last year in refusing Freedom of Information applications, perhaps aided by a very generous court decision a few years ago which endorsed a broad interpretation of the exclusion that applies to the ABC "with respect to documents in relation to its program material...

Where else but Queensland.

Posted on February 12, 2009
Online Freedom of Information applications have been possible in Victoria for some time (at least to the 10 Government Departments and Victoria Police). In Queensland the Government's Smart Service website now shows the way with a more comprehensive online application service...

External review should encompass full merits review and discretion to disclose.

Posted on February 11, 2009
Whether an external Freedom of Information review body should have power to require release of an otherwise exempt document- either on public interest or other grounds- is one of those important policy matters that can spark plenty of debate. It's an issue several submitters are running up to the Senate Public Administration and Finance Committee in Canberra this afternoon...

Opaque law making at Privacy NSW.

Posted on February 10, 2009
I've been rabbiting on for years about the complex and confusing nature of NSW privacy legislation with its many gaps and loopholes in the hope that- in the fullness of time as they say- something will be done (eventually) about it. In the meantime ...

Freedom of Information Conclusive Certificates for Senate Committee hearing this week.

Posted on February 09, 2009
The Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee has a half day scheduled this Thursday for a hearing on the abolition of conclusive certificates bill. The line-up of witnesses is here (PDF 7KB). The hearing was bumped from last Thursday as a result of the Senate's close interest in the Government's plans to spend $42 billion...

UNESCO World Press Freedom Conference in Brisbane in 2010.

Posted on February 09, 2009
In a first for Australia and the Pacific, the University of Queensland, home of Australia's oldest school of journalism, has won the right to host UNESCO's global World Press Freedom Day conference and Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize-giving ceremony in Brisbane on 3 May 2010...

Get it off your chest about secrecy laws.

Posted on February 09, 2009
Got something you would like to say about Australia's secrecy laws, how they impact on you as a Commonwealth public servant in the workplace or what you think of them generally? The Australian Law Reform Commission from later this week wants to hear from you and will be running a national two day phone-in and an online discussion forum as part of its commitment to engaging in widespread

Some questions arising from Federal Annual FOI Report.

Posted on February 09, 2009
A few other points and queries arising from the Federal Freedom of Information Annual Report 2007-2008 in addition to those made in The Australian last week: that requests were down (25%), delays were up (proportion of applications taking more than three months to process doubled), and the number of instances where documents were released in full fell from 80...

Not happy Kevin or John, but Anna and Nathan are moving in the right direction.

Posted on February 08, 2009
Sean Parnell, The Australian. The Feds, Victoria, Queensland and NSW all received a mention in dispatches about Freedom of Information reform over the weekend. Sean Parnell in The Australian: "In reality, the Prime Minister is no different to his predecessor on this important accountability and transparency ( Freedom of Information) legislation...

The twin crises an opportunity if players aren't distracted

Posted on February 05, 2009
Who is this? Is he The MAN on Freedom of Information in NSW? Last para for answers, sort of. Anonymous in a comment on the NSW Review post yesterday is a bit too prematurely pessimistic: "Rees is too busy pretending to do something about the so-called ?Global Financial Crisis? and watching out for his own back to worry about Freedom of Information...

Bouquets and brickbats.

Posted on February 04, 2009
Congratulations to OpenAustralia for putting up on-line the Register of Interests return for each Senator- a laborious task of scanning the paper documents and providing a link to the return on each Senator's page.It's something of an indication of where we are that many of the returns consist of scrawly handwriting- nothing too 21st century here...

Rudd Government's first not the best year for FOI applicants.

Posted on February 04, 2009
Haven't read the Federal Government's Annual Report 2007-2008 on the operation of the Freedom of Information Act released yesterday but The Australian says requests were down (25%), delays were up (proportion of applications taking more than three months to process doubled), and the number of instances where documents were released in full fell from 80...

Premier Rees takes the ball- now to run with it.

Posted on February 04, 2009
In the report on his review of the Freedom of Information Act released today, NSW Ombudsman Bruce Barbour has given Premier Nathan Rees a plan on what should be done in order to deliver on the Premier's commitment last October to change the secrecy culture in government and to turn the "broken" FOI Act on its head...

Fiscal stimulus AND transparency both needed.

Posted on February 03, 2009
spinningmoney.blogspot.com There are a whole raft of transparency and accountability issues that need to be examined as soon as anyone can catch their breath in trying to respond to the economic and financial markets crises. One element of all this is who gets what from the government, for what purpose and what they do with the taxpayers money...

Pork sale details hard to find

Posted on February 02, 2009
Not only were yesterday's political donations disclosures so long after the event as to be laughable, but the gory detail of large contributions to oil the wheels of democracy by foreign casino operators, developers, unions, ethanol manufacturers, clubs and others reported in today's press still don't add up, according to Malcolm Knox: "Attempts to make the political donations process more

" For gorsake stop laughing: this is serious."

Posted on February 01, 2009
This famous old Australian cartoon by Stan Cross came to mind today as The Australian Electoral Commission released information about disclosures of donations to candidates and political parties relating to the election....on 24 November 2007... 16 months after we voted...

More submissions to Senate Committee on FOI certificates

Posted on January 29, 2009
Senator Helen Polley, ALP- Tasmania, Chair Senate Committee Public Administration and Finance. Submissions to the Senate Committee on the inquiry concerning the bill to abolish conclusive certificates jumped from four to eight this week with Rick Snell, Michael McKinnon, Moira Paterson and me all rising, if somewhat late, to the occasion...

Public Service Medal for delivering greater transparency.

Posted on January 29, 2009
Verona Burgess in today's Financial Review shows she did a better job than me in scanning the Australia Day Honours list, to find the award of the Public Service Medal to Jennie Granger, Second Commissioner Australian Taxation Office (pictured here), " for delivering greater transparency and openness to the ATO's activities...

UK Committee recommends 15 instead of 30 years for automatic disclosure

Posted on January 29, 2009
Paul Dacre, editor Daily Mail. The Dacre Committee report on the UK 30 year rule was released this week, and as predicted in The Independent, recommended automatic release of government records after 15 years, and a phasing in of the new rule by releasing an additional year's records each year till catch-up is achieved...

Rough public service justice.

Posted on January 29, 2009
Almost no media reporting of this decision just prior to Christmas by the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal dismissing an appeal by Allan Kessing against his conviction for breaching Section 70 of the Crimes Act in disclosing government information without authorisation...

Serious need to know more

Posted on January 28, 2009
I guess you would expect some important Freedom of Information applications to follow when you open up vaults tightly locked for years and full of dark secrets. Writing in the Kyiv Post Jed Sunden's interest in the Holodomor (the death by starvation of between two and 10 million Ukrainians during a famine in the 1930s that Soviet authorities denied through the 1980's) led him to the FOI Act, and

UK and Australia cabinet documents in stark comparison.

Posted on January 27, 2009
The contrast with Australia is marked- for all the preciousness here about the need for cabinet documents to be virtually inaccessible for 30 years, the UK Information Tribunal has upheld a decision by the Information Commissioner that cabinet minutes of the decision to commit troops to the war in Iraq, particularly the legal advice from the Attorney General, were not exempt and should be

Faulkner, maybe a gong in a year's time?

Posted on January 26, 2009
John White Rippa Collection No gongs this year in the Australia Day Honours for Freedom of Information and privacy advocates or practitioners (although nice to see Julian Burnside and Marion Le recognised for their advocacy of important causes) but Ross Fitzgerald in The Australian today paints a picture of Minister Faulkner's long and somewhat lonely battle for Federal FOI and electoral reform

NSW Lobbyist Register generally in line with Australian precedents but that's about it.

Posted on January 25, 2009
This editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald is right in welcoming the NSW Government's Register of Lobbyists and in pointing out a major weakness: that it only applies to those who for a fee represent the interests of others, not those who seek to influence government on their own behalf...

'Follow Obama's lead on transparency, PM told"

Posted on January 22, 2009
Information Commissioner Robert Marleau So says a headline in the Toronto Globe and Mail, not any of our locals, I'm afraid. And it's not any old Peter, Paul or Mary speaking, it's the Canadian Information Commissioner, Robert Marleau. Although none appear to have bobbed up publicly in the last day or so, you hope that our own watchdogs and policy heavyweights are telling Federal, state and

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

Two New USCIS Training Centers To Open In North Texas
The Dallas Morning News reports today that two regional training c...

A Mosque, Open Space and Eminent Domain
United States District Court Judge Peter G. Sheridan issued&...