Administrative Appeals Tribunal caught breaching Freedom of Information laws

The tribunal failed to disclose information released under FOI laws for almost two years.

Attorney-General Michaelia Cash. Picture: Gary Ramage

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal – the agency that reviews decisions made by government ministers, departments and agencies under Freedom of Information laws – has breached those laws repeatedly for two years.

Under the FOI Act, federal ministers and agencies are required to maintain a public record of information released under FOI legislation.

This allows other people to access the information that has already been released. Disclosure logs must be updated within 10 working days of a person being granted access to it.

Screenshots of the tribunal’s website from early August, obtained by The Australia, show the AAT stopped updating its log after September 2019 until late last month when it made a series of retrospective uploads.

Before August 11, the last entry was dated September 19, 2019, and related to legal commentary provided by the migration and refugee division’s legal services team.

Currently, the tribunal’s log lists 12 FOI entries, most relating to information released last year.

The new entries include information about correspondence between the tribunal and former attorney-general Christian Porter and applications lodged in the veterans’ appeals division.

Labor senator Kim Carr placed a question on notice to the tribunal about whether it was adhering to its FOI obligations on August 13, triggering the AAT to make a series of updates to its disclosure log.

Labor’s attorney-general spokesman Mark Dreyfus said it was “deeply concerning” the tribunal had breached its legal obligations.

“Complying with the Freedom of Information Act is not optional,” he said.

“It’s bad enough when ministers and government departments don’t comply with the Freedom of Information Act – but, when quasi-judicial agencies like the tribunal aren’t taking the law seriously, it shows just how far the culture of secrecy under the Morrison government has spread.”

A spokeswoman for the AAT said the agency received and processed a “large number of requests under the FOI Act, with more than 1600 sent to the tribunal in the 2020-21 financial year”.

“The AAT concedes it has not always met its disclosure log obligations in a timely manner and is improving its processes to ensure this does not occur again,” she said. The spokeswoman said older entries removed “in error” would be reinstated.

A spokesman for Attorney-General Michaelia Cash said the government had been advised the AAT had put measures in place to ensure its log was up-to-date.

“Compliance with the FOI Act, including disclosure log obligations, is regulated by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner,” he said.

The Coalition has come under fire in recent years from the opposition for a series of Liberal-Party linked appointments to the AAT.