Qld integrity crisis: Outgoing Information Commissioner’s warning

Outgoing Information Commissioner Rachael Rangihaeata has used her final annual report to warn of ongoing integrity issues.

Queensland’s longest-serving Information Commissioner has called for action on the “sobering” Coaldrake review, and warned missing documents inside government agencies were hurting efforts to improve community trust.

Outgoing Information Commissioner Rachael Rangihaeata, who leaves the post this month, used her final annual report to warn of ongoing issues Queenslanders had in accessing information.

“Unnecessary refusal of access by frontline services … where access is ultimately provided on review, can undermine trust, and perception of transparency, openness and accountability,” she noted.

The Office of the Information Commissioner reviews the release of information by government departments under the state’s Right to Information Act.

Rachael Rangihaeata

In 2022-23 it received 628 applications for the review of decisions made by agencies or ministers, consistent with the “high demand for external review services”.

Ms Rangihaeata said applicants who called for a review into the information they were provided by the government were regularly raising concerns about “missing documents”.

“The comments made in the Coaldrake final report regarding efforts to ensure documents are not located in response to access applications is of great concern,” she said.

“Our task is to determine whether all reasonable searches for requested documents have been conducted.

“We expect agency co-operation in this regard and often have to revert to agencies multiple times before we have sufficient evidence that all reasonable searches have been conducted.”

Ms Rangihaeata said it highlighted the opportunity to improve information management and ensure documents “are located in the first instance and to build community trust in government”.

The Information Commissioner also noted the release of Cabinet submissions, the most significant recommendation of the Coaldrake Review, was yet to be acted upon by the Palaszczuk government.

“We encourage government to release the policy as soon as possible,” she said.

The government’s plan to strengthen integrity bodies could also create challenges.

Ms Rangihaeata declared it essential the OIC received additional resources if Queenslanders were able to “fully exercise their rights related to access to information”.

“I have consistently stated that OIC does not have capacity to absorb further functions or service demand,” she said.