Freedom of Information

Acting information commissioner Timothy Pilgrim has a message for government’s chief executives and lawyers looking to cut corners with Australians’ privacy and information rights. Don’t think you can “game the system” because of OAIC’s uncertain future. It has a mandate, powers, and an appetite to use them.

Tobacco companies have requested survey data on young people’s smoking habits in the UK and in Australia. Gerard Hastings from University of Stirling says when an FOI request from Philip Morris arrived, it stretched his unit almost to breaking point.

Would switching off the phones and cameras in parliament for a year improve government? Professor Paul ‘t Hart argues it might. Although there are benefits to greater openness, one needn’t be as cynical as Sir Humphrey Appleby to identify there are costs too.

Security clearance creep and weakened freedom of information does not help public trust in government, argues researcher Suelette Dreyfus. Even top public servants, when kept in the dark, will try to take a peek.

Technology and cynicism in the Information Age prompted questions of transparency and engagement at this week’s ANZSOG conference. The school’s dean, Professor Gary Banks, outlines some key themes and ideas from the unashamedly “insiders” event of the year.

A new bill would require federal agencies to publish every freedom of information request, granted or not, as well as the reasons for rejection or editing. Labor’s former attorney-general spokesperson says it would reduce duplication as well as improve accountability.

Freedom of information rules are causing public servants to take fewer notes and Australia under-invested in infrastructure during the mining boom, argued Treasury secretary John Fraser on Friday night, in a wide-ranging discussion.

Releasing the red and blue books to the public could damage the relationship between government and the public service or lead to substandard advice, say former senior public servants.

The Commonwealth’s Department of Human Services is releasing much less information than it used to. A new report identifies “negative trends” in FOI disclosure.

Australian Information Commissioner John McMillan will soon be out of a job. He spoke to The Mandarin about freedom of information, privacy — and how to close down an agency.