BY Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s dismissal by Governor-General Sir John Kerr in 1975 occupies an important part of Australian collective historical memory. It does so for good reason. By any account, the decision by an unelected representative of … Read the rest
Category: Freedom of Information
BY MARIA NAWAZ
Introduction
On 29 May, the High Court handed down its decision in Hocking v Director-General of the National Archives of Australia [2020] HCA 19. In an emphatic 6:1 decision, the Court held that correspondence known as the … Read the rest
BY ANNE TWOMEY
Parliamentary privilege was established for the purposes of protecting Members of Parliament from being prosecuted or penalised for what they debated in Parliament or from being controlled by the executive in what they were permitted to debate. … Read the rest
The voters aren’t happy.
While there is no single antidote for this winter of discontent, the way government governs is a contributing factor.
The government tells us that belief in democracy is a shared Australian value and … Read the rest
Two FOI certainties
Australia was an international leader in enacting a national Freedom of Information Act in 1982. The national initiative was quickly followed in all States and Territories. This is a proud heritage and underpins an … Read the rest
BY KEIRAN HARDY
Some of Malcolm Turnbull’s earliest changes in the Prime Ministership ensured that information and communications technology (ICT) would be placed at the centre of the government’s policy agenda. Mitch Fifield, the new Communications Minister, was bestowed with … Read the rest
Freedom of information (FOI) reform has often been slow in Australia. There was a decade (and a change of government) between Gough Whitlam’s 1972 election promise of freedom of information and the passing of the Commonwealth’s Freedom … Read the rest
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