"The most depressing aspect of yesterday's landmark High Court decision on the Freedom of Information Act is the virtual how-to guide it includes for ministers of the Crown who want to keep documents secret. In killing off Michael McKinnon's four-year fight to get hold of documents about abuses of the first-home owners' scheme and the government tax revenue from bracket creep, the court backed four of Peter Costello's seven arguments stating their release was not in the public interest."
So writes Matthew Moore the SMH's FOI officer in today's SMH - following the "victory" of the Federal Treasurer in a High Court challenge to withholding certain Treasury documents. Read the full piece here.
Meanwhile, over at The Australian, it editorialises about the issue "Hiding behind the law" here. It will be remembered that it was a writer from The Australian who filed the initial FOI application which has led, ultimately, to the High Court decision. The editorial is interesting if for no other reason than its revelation of how The Australian sought to negotiate a resolution of the issue with the Treasurer - without success, as things turned out.
All Australians are the losers in all of this. As The Australian asks:
"For whom does Peter Costello think he works: himself and an army of Treasury bureaucrats? Or 20 million hard-working Australians?"
The concluding para in the editorial hits the nail on the head:
"The most immediate consequence of the decision is its emasculation of the FOI Act, something that was all but admitted by the authors of yesterday's judgment who admitted that by their ruling "one or more of the stated objects of the act are thereby defeated". This will have a chilling effect on journalism. Reporters will be increasingly forced to rely on unofficial leaks which, when they come from federal public servants, breach the Commonwealth Crimes Act. And any Australian trying to find out what their Government is doing will need vast legal resources to do so. Without accountability there cannot be confidence that politicians are doing the right thing. Australians already cynical by nature can only turn away in disgust from a political process deciding the nation's future when politicians are allowed to keep such secrets."
So writes Matthew Moore the SMH's FOI officer in today's SMH - following the "victory" of the Federal Treasurer in a High Court challenge to withholding certain Treasury documents. Read the full piece here.
Meanwhile, over at The Australian, it editorialises about the issue "Hiding behind the law" here. It will be remembered that it was a writer from The Australian who filed the initial FOI application which has led, ultimately, to the High Court decision. The editorial is interesting if for no other reason than its revelation of how The Australian sought to negotiate a resolution of the issue with the Treasurer - without success, as things turned out.
All Australians are the losers in all of this. As The Australian asks:
"For whom does Peter Costello think he works: himself and an army of Treasury bureaucrats? Or 20 million hard-working Australians?"
The concluding para in the editorial hits the nail on the head:
"The most immediate consequence of the decision is its emasculation of the FOI Act, something that was all but admitted by the authors of yesterday's judgment who admitted that by their ruling "one or more of the stated objects of the act are thereby defeated". This will have a chilling effect on journalism. Reporters will be increasingly forced to rely on unofficial leaks which, when they come from federal public servants, breach the Commonwealth Crimes Act. And any Australian trying to find out what their Government is doing will need vast legal resources to do so. Without accountability there cannot be confidence that politicians are doing the right thing. Australians already cynical by nature can only turn away in disgust from a political process deciding the nation's future when politicians are allowed to keep such secrets."
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