Odd bedfellows. Pollies weigh in on unfair transparency fight

After losing an FOI case, the Department of Industry appealed to the Federal Court in a bid to recover costs from a private citizen. A highly unusual move, with politicians from different walks of life joining the protest. Kim Wingerei reports.

It’s not often you see Senators Pauline Hanson, David Shoebridge, Lidia Thorpe and Ralph Babet joining forces on an issue, but they are among 18 Parliamentarians who have written to Attorney-General Michelle Rowland with their concerns about the Labor Government’s heavy-handed tactics to combat transparency.

In May, the Administrative Review Tribunal overturned the government’s decision to deny access, scolding the government for its secrecy regarding AUKUS nuclear waste. The Freedom of Information request was made by our transparency warrior, private citizen Rex Patrick.

Transparency wins as court rebukes government secrecy

The Secretary of the Department of Industry has now decided to appeal the decision in the Federal Court and has also asked Rex to pay legal fees, which can be up to $150,000.

In fact, such a move would cause citizens to stop with the loss of FOI and

Make it impossible to appeal dangerous decisions.

Therefore, Shoebridge, Hanson, Babet, Thorpe and others wrote to the Attorney General asking him to intervene:

“It has long been recognized that the Government, with its considerable resources, must be fair to its citizens. It is deeply unfair to drag an ordinary citizen, who represents himself and is under threat of costs, into discussing legal issues raised by the Government.”

“It also puts the Court in a position where it will have to determine questions of law involving only those legal experts advocating the Government’s view. In fact, it is perfectly foreseeable that Mr Patrick will merely appear in surrender and leave no conflict in the Court, which does not automatically exclude his liability for costs.”

“The ‘scales of justice’ will clearly be weighed in favor of the Government and we believe that this is not a recipe for a good development of public law.”

They also reminded the Attorney General of the Prime Minister’s commitment to Government Transparency in 2019:

“In 2019, then-opposition leader Anthony Albanese gave a groundbreaking ‘Labour and Democracy’ speech in which he strongly defended freedom of information and the integrity of government. ‘Current delays, obstacles, costs and exemptions make it easier for the government to hide information from the public. This is not right,'” he criticized then-existing laws.

“The Minister’s attempt to impose costs in relation to Mr Patrick’s matter appears to be completely at odds with the Prime Minister’s expressed values, particularly given that this is a legal action initiated by the Commonwealth.”

Civil society support

A number of non-governmental organizations, including the Human Rights Law Centre, the Alliance for Freedom of Journalists and Transparency International, also weighed in on the issue in a separate letter.

“This precedent concerns us deeply. The FOI Act clearly states that access to government information must be provided at the lowest reasonable cost. The costs now incurred by Mr Patrick are neither low nor reasonable. We note that earlier this year, the Government’s proposed FOI changes were not adopted by Parliament following serious concerns from civil society.”

They pleaded with the Attorney-General: “We ask you to intervene: to direct that the Commonwealth pay the reasonable legal costs of Mr Patrick (and any successful future FOI applicants) in an appeal initiated by the Government.

If the Government’s appeal is successful, it will not seek a costs order against itself.

Making transparency too costly

“Transparency shouldn’t depend on whether you have a lawyer and hundreds of thousands of dollars. Any government committed to open democracy wouldn’t do that,” Rex Patrick told MWM.

Pricing people out of participation in democracy or government control.

“The Auditor General’s finding that more than half of challenged FOI decisions resulted in the release of more information shows that the government is already getting it wrong too often. This latest threat is nothing more than a backdoor way to undermine Australia’s already broken FOI system and ensure the government can continue to choose secrecy over accountability.”

Patrick believes this will cause people to stop losing FOI. “I hope the Attorney General will intervene. It is in the public interest for him to do so.”

MWM He asked for the opinions of the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

FOI amendment bill. Transparency counter-revolution.