Page 2739 - Week 08 - Thursday, 11 August 2016
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Regrettably, the bill as presented goes well beyond the letter and spirit of the parliamentary agreement. This bill departs from the Queensland act fundamentally and will, if enacted in the way presented, impinge on good government and make the system for managing access to information expensive and burdensome. It is worth highlighting the commentary of the scrutiny of bills committee, which has confirmed the complexities particularly associated with the review mechanisms proposed in the bill. In the opinion of the scrutiny of bills committee, they will lead to a more time-consuming and more onerous process for review than that that is currently provided for under existing law.
For these reasons the government cannot provide support for the bill in detail in its current form. Mr Rattenbury introduced the bill with the good intention of establishing a freedom of information scheme that will make ACT government information the most accessible in the country. The government supports transparency, but we do hold significant concerns that the bill goes far beyond what is required to achieve a more open and accessible government scheme.
The bill is dangerously skewed towards the presumption of disclosure at the expense of important protections including, in the bill as presented, the protections of legal professional privilege, personal privacy, law enforcement and national security holdings.
The government amendments I will move today will seek to restore the balance between protecting certain categories of sensitive information and allowing access to government information by the public. This is about achieving a balance and it is an important consideration in our modern liberal democracy.
The government is fully supportive of open and accessible government. Nothing demonstrates this more than the open government initiative. The ACT government’s open government policy promotes transparency in processing information, participation by citizens in the governing process, public collaboration in finding solutions to problems and participation for the improved wellbeing of the community.
Under this policy, the government released one of Australia’s first open data portals in 2012, providing individuals, businesses, journalists, non-government organisations and the broader public sector with the opportunity to access, explore and build upon government datasets in new and innovative ways.
Despite this existing access, the bill imposes a substantive cost on the territory by setting out an extensive list of open access information which the government must proactively publish where it is not contrary to the public interest. The government believes that it is in the best interests of the public and the good working of government that some of these highly sensitive categories of information not be disclosed, such as minutes of sensitive discussions, incoming ministerial briefs, budget papers and policy documents that are still in draft form.
The government amendments I present today will seek to make changes in this regard. I note, however, that all other categories of open access information will remain available and the working documents of government will still need a level of protection.
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