Our submission to the 2012 Review of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 and the Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010 adopted positions informed by our public interest expertise and experience using the legislation while representing clients.
Our submission welcomed reforms to FOI laws which sought to uphold the fundamental aims of FOI law: to make government information more accessible and useable, and to make government more consultative, participatory and transparent. However, we noted areas where the implementation of the legislation, or the drafting of the provisions itself, operate against the aims of the legislation.
Our 21 Recommendations included a range of reforms to the freedom of information regime that would ensure that rights of access to government information are retained, or increased, in the context of a more efficient, effective and accessible administrative system.
