FOI Victoria: Freedom of Information laws the worst in Australia
The Andrews government has been accused of habitually blocking information from the public in what has been slammed as a “secrecy reflex”.
Victoria
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Victoria’s Freedom of Information laws are the “worst” in the country, with people lodging more requests for information than any other state, the privacy watchdog says.
Outgoing Victorian Information Commissioner Sven Bluemmel said state government departments and agencies took a habitual approach to blocking information from release, which was eroding public trust in those organisations.
“We have the oldest and clunkiest FOI laws in the country,” Mr Bluemmel said
“There is a bit of a phenomenon that I see often, where an agency will start looking at an FOI request with the view of ‘how can we find material to be exempt?’ rather than starting from the perspective of, ‘why shouldn’t all of this go out?’
“That’s not a pro-disclosure attitude.
“It’s what I call a secrecy reflex, which is actually inconsistent with a system of parliamentary democracy.”
In 2021-22, Victorians made 43,978 requests for information from the government – the highest on record and more than any other Australian jurisdiction.
Mr Bluemmel told the Herald Sun that Victoria’s legislation was worse than the federal government and the state governments of NSW and Queensland when it came to the release of information.
Mr Bluemmel said there was also an emerging trend with successful FOIs to be released with
only partial data, which contributed to the “perception” of a secretive and corrupt government.
Data shows that 12 per cent of requests are denied, and full access is granted to fewer than one in three matters.
Mr Bluemmel said substantial legislative changes were needed to allow a greater focus on the proactive release of material and data to make FOI laws a last resort.
The state’s Freedom of Information Act has stayed the same since the 1980s but is under review.
Mr Bluemmel’s comments come after former anti-corruption watchdog Robert Redlich warned that the Andrews government called for less secrecy when it came to core and integrity probes.
The retired Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commissioner has been fighting to modernise Victoria’s anti-corruption agency to give it more investigative powers in order to enhance public confidence in the government’s performance.
Opposition spokesman for government scrutiny Nick McGowan said changes needed to be made. “Victoria once led the way in providing information to its own citizens, today we are among the worst in the world,” he said.
“What we need is a complete overhaul of the system and real Freedom of Information laws that proactively provide information as a matter of routine, rather than requiring Victorians to seek and ask for information.”
A government spokesperson said: “We remain focused on delivering a strong Freedom of Information (FOI) system – one that is fair and efficient.”
“We drove significant changes to the FOI Act in 2017, establishing the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner with more investigative powers than its predecessor and introduced faster response timeframes for all FOI applications,” the spokesperson said.
“We await the outcome of the current parliamentary inquiry into the Freedom of Information Act 1982.”
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