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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

New and old Russia.

Posted on January 21, 2009
Not inspired by Obama, but good news nevertheless from today's Moscow Times: "The State Duma on Wednesday is to consider in a third and final reading a bill spelling out citizens' right to gain access to government documents and outlining punishments for officials who do not comply...

Getting the 'we're different" message" out there.

Posted on January 21, 2009
Kevin Rudd, Nathan Rees, Anna Bligh, David Bartlett, Jon Stanhope, Colin Barnett, even John Brumby- Australian government leaders all- came to office with, or thereafter embraced plans over the last 18 months or so, to do something to promote greater openness and transparency, in particular to change the way Freedom of Information laws work in practice...

Brown averts showdown on FOI

Posted on January 21, 2009
The UK Government has backed off-for the moment at least- on the move to put MPs expenses and allowances outside the scope of the Freedom of Information Act, after FOI campaigners shifted into top gear, and Opposition support for the initiative evaporated...

Restore trust by doing business in the light of day.

Posted on January 20, 2009
He carries the hopes of people everywhere keen to see the US return to a position as a force for good.. and people of goodwill everywhere wish him well. A great speech by a great wordsmith and incredible orator who was inspiring and inclusive, if just a touch "preachy" in style here and there for this Australian audience of one...

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Senate Committee not deluged by submissions on FOI

Posted on January 19, 2009
Only four submissions have been received to date (the deadline was 7 January) by the Senate Committee on Public Finance and Administration in connection with its examination of the Freedom of Information (Removal of Conclusive Certificates and Other Measures) Bill 2008...

MPs and our money still an issue.

Posted on January 19, 2009
B..i..i..i..g fuss in the UK over this move to take MPs expense and allowance payments outside the scope of the Freedom of Information Act, even though the intention is that information about expenditure by each, broken down by sub-heading, will be published in a report by the houses of parliament each year...

Public affairs junkies' cups runneth over.

Posted on January 19, 2009
www.futureofthebook.org A-Span has now become A-Pac- Australia's Public Affairs Channel- and is up and running from today at Channel 607 on Foxtel and Austar, or your digital set (in Sydney at least), and (soon) on-line here. But wait.. there's more...

NSW ADT to decide whether an agent helps or hinders a client

Posted on January 18, 2009
One unheralded change in the operation of the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal that came into force on 1 January as a result of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal Amendment Act 2008 No 77 is that the Tribunal now has powers (Schedule 1 Clause 20) to disallow an application by a a non-lawyer to represent a party in proceedings...

Smart lawyering can't undo the facts about privacy complaint after the event.

Posted on January 15, 2009
Two recent decisions by the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal involving local councils have both confirmed that a complaint about an alleged breach of privacy received by an agency outside the six month deadline, but acted upon, at least in a preliminary fashion, cannot later be claimed to have been invalid because it was a late application...

State of the print media 2008

Posted on January 15, 2009
The Australian Press Council has published the 2008 edition of State of the News Print Media which summarises developments in a wide range of relevant fields over the last 12 months. Its assessment is that the trend of several years of erosion of free speech has now been arrested to some degree...

Long lost review sort of surfaces, four years late.

Posted on January 15, 2009
You have to hand it to the NSW Attorney General and his Department when it comes to leaving few footprints in the exercise of some statutory responsibilities. Alerted by a comment in the Administrative Decisions Tribunal Annual Report 2007-2008, that the Government was expected to finally publish and act in spring 2008 on a review of the Tribunal's Act mandated for 2004, the following emerged

Tester for NSW Premier's commitment to end culture of secrecy

Posted on January 13, 2009
NSW Treasurer Eric Roozendaal MLC The Daily Telegraph today reports that the NSW Ombudsman has brought to the attention of the Premier and the Independent Commission Against Corruption issues arising from an investigation into handling of a Freedom of Information application by the Roads and Traffic Authority, said to involve a former staffer of the then Minister for Roads, now Treasurer Eric

A reasonable period of cabinet secrecy.

Posted on January 12, 2009
Just on that 30 year rule which keeps Federal cabinet documents out of the public domain for longer than good governance requires, The Independent speculated over the weekend that the UK inquiry into the situation there is likely to result in a recommendation that it be reduced to 15 years...

Not all smiles at NSW ADT

Posted on January 09, 2009
NSW Attorney General John Hatzistergos MLC In his overview of the first decade of operations of the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal, in the Tribunal's Annual Report 2007-2008, President Judge O'Connor, in wonderfully polite annual report language, highlighted for the Attorney General a few causes of concern: The apparent absence of policy and principle for what administrative decisions in

Tasmanian FOI issues identified?

Posted on January 08, 2009
The Tasmanian review of the Freedom of Information Act proceeds, with the publication of the Issues Identification Forum Report on the Forum organised by the Department of Justice Review Team in Hobart on 10 December. David Solomon and Rick Snell both spoke to participants, who then discussed the good, bad and indifferent aspects of the current regime...

30 years on some documents still too sensitive for the public domain.

Posted on January 07, 2009
Malcolm Fraser Prime Minister 1975-1983 The annual release by National Archives of 30 year old Federal cabinet documents on 1 January led to quite a bit of media coverage of the big decisions of 1978, but two questions: is the 30 year rule still justified and are there reasonable grounds for still withholding some documents or parts of documents from public disclosure even after that time? The

What bad news did governments successfully bury over the holiday season?

Posted on January 06, 2009
Sure to be quite a bit according to this editorial in the Canberra Times which obseved that this is a great time to get bad news and dodgy reports out there when no-one is listening. Such as the independent report into the Haneef affair: "Three days before Christmas a 350-page report was dropped to the media, a hasty press conference called immediately afterwards giving no one time to read the

Too many old secrets in SA.

Posted on January 05, 2009
South Australia has been mentioned here before as one state that has shown little interest in change to promote more transparency in government. In this editorial The Sunday Mail suggests that the Government's claim that cabinet documents are released after 20 years in SA is not supported by its experience in trying to access some records...

WA report on first 100 days

Posted on January 05, 2009
WA Premier Colin Barnett has reported on what has been done to deliver on commitments made in his plan for the first 100 days in office, including this on accountability, and the very modest promises on Freedom of Information: "Release all information into the Varanus Island Gas Explosion Mines and Petroleum Minister released the final report into the Varanus Island offshore gas pipeline

A-Span on our doorstep but 2020 Summit response now in the New Year.

Posted on January 04, 2009
Co-chairs of the 2020 Governance group John Hartigan and Maxine McKew I thought maybe my memory was playing tricks, but no, the Prime Minister had committed in this media release on 31 May to a response to the Final Report of the 2020 Summit, held last April, by the end of 2008...

As you'll see, slowly getting back into gear here.

Posted on January 04, 2009
The silly season, as usual lived up to its name. The following has been doing the rounds on the blogosphere for years, and the claim it resulted from a Freedom of Information application may or may not be true, but it's a good one to kick off the new year...

Ho, ho, ho and happy holidays.

Posted on December 22, 2008
I had all sorts of things worth saying this week, but alas the moments passed, and Australia is off on holidays, so....... Best wishes to all readers, thanks to those who have provided feedback, news and comment, and good luck to all- yes, including Sarah and particularly Rudolph and his friends- for 2009...

ACT FOI reform two-step.

Posted on December 18, 2008
The new ACT Legislative Assembly sat for three days last week, the first substantive sittings since the election that resulted in the return of the ALP Stanhope Government, formed only through the support of The Greens who hold the balance of power.Three days produced two Freedom of Information Amendment bills-one from the Liberals Vicki Dunne, the other on behalf of the Government from Attorney

Mostly good cheer from Minister Tanner.

Posted on December 18, 2008
Some end-of-year cheer from Minister for Finance Lindsay Tanner who has announced a series of reforms to improve transparency in the budget process and in financial management generally, following a review of the Government's Operation Sunlight project by former Australian Democrats Senator Andrew Murray...

Accountability suffers if records are a shambles

Posted on December 17, 2008
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption has released the eighth and final report on its inquiry into Railcorp, commenting that the investigation had exposed an "extraordinary extent of public sector corruption. Corrupt employees appeared to be confident that they would not be caught or if they were, that not much would happen to them...

Some holiday reading on electoral reform

Posted on December 17, 2008
Cabinet Secretary and Special Minister of State, Senator Faulkner has released the Electoral Reform Green Paper for public comment- submissions invited by 23 February and the Government will also ask the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters to consider the issues raised...

Fishing expedition turns up bill for $200,000 and some fishy business

Posted on December 15, 2008
There is nothing wrong with using the Freedom of Information laws for a fishing expedition but it can turn out to be an expensive business. The Australian reported at the weekend on an application for all documents held by the Department of Defence about Mamdouh Habib and his rendition from the time he was arrested in Pakistan in 2001 until now: "The Defence Department came back with a

Que is the word on publication of hospital waiting times.

Posted on December 15, 2008
"Que?"-Manuel in Fawlty Towers From"Longer wait for elective surgery" in today's Sydney Morning Herald: "The Minister for Health, John Della Bosca, said: "Elective surgery waiting times have decreased substantially, with 91 per cent of patients treated within the recommended time frame of either 30, 90 or 365 days, up 4 per cent on the previous quarter...

The power of the "FOI exclusive"

Posted on December 15, 2008
It's not all bad news,however. Peter Meakin director of news and current affairs at Seven Network in yesterday's Australian, on how Freedom of Information can help to build a reputation in the news business: "To establish a reputation in this business you have to rock the boat occasionally...

Fisse case shows "business as usual" in Canberra.

Posted on December 15, 2008
A couple of other comments on what to make of the Fisse case and on how the Freedom of Information Act is travelling in delivering those worthy objectives of increased accountability and improved democracy through access to information to inform debate on issues, and assist to better understand government processes...

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