On Monday, the FOI Commissioner, Leo Hardiman PSM KC, quit his $398,630 job over his inability, for reasons beyond his control, “to increase timeliness of IC reviews and access in a way which best promotes the objects of the FOI Act”.
It’s an honourable thing for him to have done and demonstrates that we’ve lost a man of great integrity from public service.
It’s extremely damning when a commissioner just up stumps and leaves. It’s a telling story from the inside as to how broken our FOI system really is. So what’s the scam?
The scam is that Attorney General Mark Dreyfus knows it’s broken and has done nothing to fix it. In a Federal Court matter set to play out in hearing on 20th and 21st of March, relating to the excruciating time it takes the Information Commissioner to conduct FOI reviews, Mark Dreyfus swore an affidavit expressing his frustration with the system.
Access to information is critical to informed policy debate and scrutiny of government, Maybe a failed system suits the Attorney-General?
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 - www.transparencywarrior.com.au.