The Albanese government is lagging on transparency:

• Only 21% of 2023-24 FOI requests were granted in full compared to 81% in 2006-07.
• Whereas the average request once took 13 hours to determine (2006-07), it now takes 51 hours (2023-24). In other words, the Albanese government employs four public servants to do what only took one public servant under the Howard government.
• If the Albanese government achieved the Howard government’s cost-per-FOI-request ratio, taxpayers would save $61 million per year.

The Albanese government’s proposed Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025 would exacerbate these problems, making it harder and more expensive for Australians to get information from the government.

The Bill would introduce a fee for non-personal FOI requests, expand exclusions on cabinet-related documents, and allow requests “likely to involve” more than 40 hours of work to be refused.

The Robodebt Royal Commission recommended that section 34 of the FOI Act (regarding Cabinet documents) be repealed because it thwarted efforts to investigate Robodebt. Instead, the Bill would make section 34 even more limiting, expanding its scope and betraying the Robodebt Royal Commission.

Government secrecy is the cause of the problems in the FOI system, not the applicants.