Waters, Nigel --- "Commonwealth FOI amendments shouldn't miss the opportunity for real reform Submission on the Freedom of Information Amendment (Reform) Bill 2009 and Information Commissioner Bill 2009" [2010] UNSWLRS 62

Last Updated: 7 December 2010

Commonwealth FOI amendments shouldn’t miss the opportunity for real reform Submission on the Freedom of Information Amendment (Reform) Bill 2009 and Information Commissioner Bill 2009

Nigel Waters, Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre, UNSW

This paper is available for download at http://law.bepress.com/unswwps/flrps10/art62/

Abstract

Amendments to the FOI and Privacy Laws are generally welcome in that they should support ‘open government’ objectives. But the relationship between FOI and privacy laws, particularly in relation to access to information and grounds for withholding, raise some concerns about privacy protection. There are also unanswered questions about the new Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, which will be responsible for both FOI and Privacy. This submission analyses the amendments and makes recommendations both for fine tuning, and for additional improvements in both regimes.