Home -> Law Blog Directory -> International Law Blogs -> Open and Shut

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

What if, on balance, the public interest always determined the outcome?

ADVERTISEMENTS

There's plenty of scope for "what if" thinking about government openness and transparency. John Hartigan, chairman and chief executive of News Limited, writes in What if? edited by Peta Seaton to be published on 16 April, about cabinet documents and the blanket secrecy afforded them under our freedom of information laws. I'm afraid it's all over red rover on this sort of idea in the current round of FOI reforms, and "what if all exemptions included a public interest test" is an even better question. In this Weekend Australian article on the book by Michael Stutchbury, Hartigan concedes

"that cabinet should be a safe place where ministers can frankly and secretly speak their minds. But he also says there is no excuse for Australia's blanket cabinet secrecy. Until recently in Queensland, bureaucrats could routinely wheel trolley-loads of documents into the cabinet room just to exempt them from Freedom of Information laws. Hartigan says the public's right to know should trump cabinet secrecy in cases such as this newspaper's publication of leaked documents revealing security weaknesses at Australian airports. The solution, he suggests, is provided by New Zealand's Official Information Act, which has encouraged cabinet papers and minutes to be routinely released unless there is a good reason, such as national security, not to. "While the New Zealand model presumes openness from the outset, ours still presumes that cabinet information is always secret. It's subtle, but it's the wrong way round," Hartigan writes.

Full post as published by Open and Shut on April 11, 2010 (boomark / email).

Lawsuits and Settlements

WaMu Cash Balance Pension Plan - Partial Preliminary Settlement
WaMu Cash Balance Pension Plan Partial Preliminary Settlement

Cipro
The FDA is seeking to add black box warnings of the risk of tendon rupture associated with Cipro and Levaquin. The ruptures can involve Achilles tendon, shoulder, hand, bicep or thumb tendons, and is especially increased in patients older than 60, or people who have received kidney, heart or lung transplants, as well as people on steroid therapy...

Clopidogrel Marketed as Plavix FDA Issues Public Health Advisory
Clopidogrel Marketed as Plavix FDA Issues Public Health Advisory

Stock Market Losses
alleging bad financial advice and conflicts of interest.

Nursing Home Abuse
New Data Made Public

JP Morgan Chase & Co
Faces Lawsuit Over Hikes in Credit Card Interest Rate

Related Searches