The biggest ever assault on government transparency has been launched by Labor’s tabling of the FOI Amendment Bill 2025. Transparency warrior Rex Patrick reports.
Freedom of Information (FOI) is the only way you can directly inquire into the details of what your government is doing on your behalf. It’s a right that was bestowed upon you by the Parliament in 1982. In a 2008 High Court decision, Justice Kirby stated:
“[The FOI Act] assigns very high importance to a public interest in greater openness and transparency in public administration. Given the historical background, the attitudinal shift that FOI legislation demanded of Ministers, departments, agencies and the public service is nothing short of revolutionary.”
The FOI bill tabled in the parliament today is nothing short of an Albanese counter-revolution,
it strips away citizens’ rights to access important information.
As frequently pointed out on these pages, the current FOI regime is not working well. The proposed amendments will not help.
Congratulations to Senator @DavidPocock for the most genuine (and appropriate) reaction to a question time answer that I’ve seen in a long while. #FOI #auspol pic.twitter.com/WFh8P5t01o
— Rex Patrick (@MrRexPatrick) September 2, 2025
All Important Information to be exempt
The current FOI Act limits Cabinet exemptions to material that would disclose a difference in opinion between ministers; as declared in the High Court case of Commonwealth v Northern Land Council in 1993, Cabinet confidentiality protects collective responsibility and cabinet solidarity.
It should never be a secret that the Cabinet is dealing with a particular issue, but only the views that each minister has about the policy, so that we have confidence in the government.
Right now, you can request and gain access to ministerial briefs about important topics – the briefs reveal their department’s views, not the ministers.
The changes in the new Bill alter this situation dramatically, not seeking to protect collective responsibility and cabinet solidarity, but rather any issue that the Cabinet is dealing with. And, of course, the Cabinet only deals with the big issues, so the proposed law will stop access to any document that deals with big issues.
The Bill waters down the Cabinet exemption from a document that has a dominant purpose of submission to Cabinet to a document that just has a substantial purpose of submission to Cabinet. Words count when fronting a tribunal or court.
The Bill also adds further exemptions to words spoken by a minister in cabinet to words, adding the issue discussed as well.
If the law passes, you’ll be able to get access to information about a fence being built around a federal building (assuming the Cabinet didn’t consider that), but not information related to a national highway being built to access it.
Transparency. Is Labor’s large majority a threat to truth in government?
Summary dismissal
The Bill allows an official to not even search for a document if it “would clearly be an exempt document”.
That might include a purported Cabinet document or legal advice. I can’t count the number of times that an FOI decision maker thought a document was a Cabinet document, only for the Information Commissioner to find on appeal that it wasn’t.
No names, please
The Bill also proposes that FOI decision makers will not be named. Under section 11 of the FOI Act, access to government documents is a right. The government wants it so that when you have that right stripped from you, the person who stripped it won’t be known.
This could be because officials often get decisions wrong.
Not naming them protects them from their own incompetence.
No controversial topics allowed
The Public Service Act requires all public servants to tender the best possible advice to senior officials and ministers; always!
The proposed laws will prohibit the disclosure of public servant’s advice if it would cause public servants to break the law. That’s right, instead of officials being reminded of their obligations under the Public Service Act to do their best, despite there being a risk of disclosure of the advice under FOI (or subpoena, or at the request of the Auditor General, or at the request of the Parliament).
As it currently stands, the FOI Act lives in harmony with the Public Service Act.
What the proposed be law does is exempt from public release anything that is controversial.
Charges
As if all that wasn’t bad enough, you’re going to get charged to do an FOI. And if a public servant makes a bad decision, you’re going to get charge again to have the decision reviewed. That’s right, they make the error and you get to pay.
Very few other jurisdictions in Australia charge you for a review, but even those that do give you a refund if the decision is altered. There’s no plan for that in the Federal space.
Timeliness
FOI requests never get dealt with in a timely manner. Instead of trying to fix that with proper resources, the Bill proposed to extend the processing times from 30 days to 30 working days, and then grants agencies a number of new ways to extend processing times.
Whilst working days is a somewhat reasonable approach, in NSW where that approach is taken, they use 20 days.
Two steps backwards
There is nothing good for the public in this Bill. Nothing. That needs to be stated in the context of an FOI regime that doesn’t achieve its aims today. It will only get worse if these laws are passed.
In the 1998 High Court case of Egan v Willis, three justices of the court stated that FOI supplemented our responsible system of government. The Albanese government, as it strives to make participation in democracy and scrutiny of its government harder, seems to have lost sight of that.
During the pandemic, I took on Prime Minister Scott Morrison after he wrapped a secrecy blanket over the National Cabinet. It was making decisions over Australians’ freedoms and liberties in total secrecy. That battle was won.
If the FOI Amendment Bill 2025 gets through the Parliament, things will be worse. Any significant or controversial issue being considered by the government will be immune from your prying eyes. How’s that for transparency?
Prime Minister Albanese promised to improve government transparency when he was in opposition.
Now that he’s in Government, he’s seeking to severely restrict it.
It seems that transparency is a word only shouted from opposition benches. Let’s hope the Opposition, Greens and independents stop this awful Bill.
Rex Patrick is a former Senator for South Australia and, earlier, a submariner in the armed forces. Best known as an anti-corruption and transparency crusader, Rex is also known as the "Transparency Warrior."