annual report 08-09 - Public Interest Advocacy Centre

At the same time as the NSW Government
overhauled its FOI regime, the
Commonwealth Government introduced
two stages of reforms to the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (Cth) (the Cth FOI Act).
The first stage of the Commonwealth
Government reform was to abolish
Ministerial certificates. While commending
the Commonwealth on this amendment,
PIAC in its submission raised concerns
about some provisions of the reforms.
These concerns related to provisions that
would exclude from the scope of Cth FOI
Act documents in the hands of government
ministers that originated within or were
received from certain defence or security
agencies. PIAC also gave evidence to the
Senate Standing Committee on Finance
and Public Administration on the reforms in
February 2009.
The second stage of the Commonwealth
FOI reforms included the creation of
an Information Commissioner and the
creation of Information Publication
Schemes that would open up significant
amounts of government information to
the public.
PIAC used FOI law in its casework
throughout the year. One example of this
is the FOI request made to Centrepay for
information relating to all participating
Centrepay organisations.
PIAC continued its involvement in two
FOI matters relating to the Department
of Defence’s handling, exchange and
rendition of people including military
prisoners. This project began in 2005,
when PIAC made FOI requests to
the Department of Defence and the
Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade
for all information regarding the rendition
of detainees. PIAC has appealed to the
Administrative Appeals Tribunal in relation
to the Department of Defence’s failure to
provide adequate reasons or information.
During the year, PIAC acted for the
UK All Party Parliamentary Group on
Extraordinary Rendition (APPGER) in
relation to APPGER’s FOI request to the
Australian Department of Defence. The
APPGER is a group of 60 UK MPs who
want to get to the bottom of Britain’s
involvement in extraordinary renditions
linked to the war in Iraq.
Finally, PIAC made a submission in
response to the Australian Law Reform
Commission’s Review of Secrecy Laws.
PIAC argued for an overriding public
interest test in which the need to protect
government information is balanced
against the general public interest in open
and transparent government.
‘
PIAC continued its
involvement in two
FOI matters relating
to the Department of
Defence’s handling
of people including
military prisoners. ’
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PUBLIC INTEREST ADVOCACY CENTRE • ANNUAL REPORT 2008-2009