Legislative harakiri. A rare win for transparency as FOI bill dead
The Albanian Government’s attempt to further limit transparency has failed. Death of widely condemned and mocked FOI Amendment Bill is a good thing, says Rex Patrick.
Yesterday morning, Senator Katy Gallagher entered the Senate and introduced a motion to remove the FOI Amendment Bill 2025 from the notice sheet; This means this is no longer open for discussion or vote.
It was claimed by the Labor Party that the bill was merely administrative in nature. But in fact it was a secrecy Bill, which included a provision restricting transparency around government business involving the Cabinet (rather than the actual deliberations of the Cabinet), with officials dealing with anything that might be controversial.
Civil society took action
Everyone was surprised when the bill was presented to the Parliament in September 2025. Because no one…absolutely no one had seen this except the Government.
This was a government openness and transparency bill written solely by the government.
It was like getting a prison safety manual written only by inmates.
Civil society took action; Center for Public Integrity, Whistleblower Justice Fund, Human Rights Law Centre, Grata Fund, Australian Press Council, Transparency International, Australian Lawyers Alliance, Journalists’ Freedom Alliance and many more.
Appeals were made to the Senate and coordinated advocacy was initiated; meetings with MPs, briefings in Parliament, opinion pieces and even advertising paid for through donations from citizens.
Paid Advertising in ‘Liberal’ Print Media (Source: Whistleblower Justice Fund)
Faults in parliament
An attempt was made to kill the bill in December, during the last session week of the year. Senator David Pocock led the effort. He had the support of the Coalition and the Cross Bench to introduce the bill to a two-hour debate and then plan for a vote in Parliament. However, the Greens had made an agreement with the Government to amend the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act and therefore could not support an amendment that would disrupt the Senate’s action on this bill.
In early February, Senator Fatama Payman introduced a motion to remove the FOI Amendment Bill from the notice sheet. It garnered support for the motion, including from the Liberals, but lost support at the 11th hour because the Liberal Party leadership was in disarray and focused on other things. Payman’s attempt therefore failed.
He shouted with common sense. The end of Albo’s privacy law?
That led to negotiations in the Senate wing chambers this week. Payman wanted to try David Pocock’s approach in December and put the bill up for debate so it could be rejected. On Wednesday morning, Senator Michaelia Cash got agreement from Angus Taylor to kill the bill, so they agreed to support Payman. All they needed was the Greens but they wanted more time; “next Tuesday please”.
Payman responded by postponing action until next Tuesday. It was now planned that he would be expelled from parliament.
legislative harakiri
Labor felt the bill was doomed to fail.
Rather than bear the shame of the Bill being killed by non-government senators, Labor decided to commit legislative harakiri on Thursday in the hope that news of the Bill’s death would be covered up by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech to Parliament.
Senator Gallagher entered the Senate and drew his samurai sword. Seppuku took place, but without this honor.
Shameful Bill died quickly. He was slaughtered thirty minutes into the day, and shortly thereafter the Senate adjourned to allow senators to join the House to hear Carney speak.
FOI system still needs fixing
In his five-minute contribution to the bill’s funeral, Gallagher foreshadowed that Labor would try again in the future.
We hope they will learn from experience and consult on changes this time.
what works for citizens rather than what works for a secret government.
Explanation: Rex Patrick is the founder and executive director of the Whistleblower Justice Fund, the nonprofit mentioned in the story.
FOI amendment bill. Transparency counter-revolution.
Rex Patrick is a former South Australian Senator and formerly a submariner in the armed forces. Known as an anti-corruption and transparency warrior, Rex is also known as “Transparency Warrior“
