Cabinet secrecy remains as Albanese government snubs Royal Commissioner’s push

Cabinet documents will continue to remain secret for no other reason than being labelled “Cabinet documents”.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Beach

Cabinet documents will continue to remain secret for no other reason than being labelled “Cabinet documents”, after the federal government refused to adopt the call from the Robodebt royal commissioner to cease the practice.

While not a formal recommendation, the commissioner unequivocally stated the section of the Freedom of Information Act that allows the practice “should be repealed”.

Currently, any document described as a Cabinet document is kept confidential and is barred from public release for 20 years.

In the closing observation of the 990-page report, Commissioner Catherine Holmes said that this was no longer justified.

“The amendment should make clear that confidentiality should only be maintained over any Cabinet documents or parts of Cabinet documents where it is reasonably justified for an identifiable public interest reason,” it stated.

Royal Commissioner Catherine Holmes handing over the report into the Robodebt scheme to Governor-General David Hurley. Picture: News Corp

Despite this, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus made it clear they would not be doing this.

“The Commissioner made a closing comment rather than a recommendation … We will not be amending the Freedom of Information Act,” Mr Dreyfus said.

In the official response to the Royal Commission, Mr Dreyfus wrote that the government believed it was critical that Cabinet was “comprehensively informed in its deliberations”.

“To achieve this, the Cabinet must have the benefit of frank and fearless advice from Ministers and senior public servants. The decisions taken by the Cabinet are collective.”

Mr Dreyfus said the government accepted in full or in principal all 56 official recommendations.

“The Robodebt scheme was wrong … we said we’d act to ensure that nothing like this can ever happen again and today, we take the next step towards delivering on that commitment,” he said.

Government Services Minister Bill Shorten said the findings dish out a new challenge Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

“It was Labor who called for the Royal Commission which the now leader of the Opposition Mr Dutton called a political witch hunt. The test is now for Mr Dutton,” Mr Shorten said.

Opposition Government Services spokesman Paul Fletcher said the Opposition expressed its apologies to Australians who received unlawful debt notices under the scheme.

“We will be scrutinising how the government, especially Services Australia, implements these recommendations, given the agency’s litany of service delivery failures,” he said.

“Services Australia has become a basket case under Labor – with skyrocketing call wait times and a blowout of processing times for vital payments during a cost of living crisis.”

Commissioner Holmes’ found the Coalition’s Robodebt scheme, which was designed to clawback allegedly overpaid welfare, was mishandled and “devised without regard to the social security law”.