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Freedom of Information in Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2025

L J Curtis
L J Curtis*
Affiliation:
Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department
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Extract

I begin this paper with a disclaimer: it does not pretend to be a definitive study of freedom of information in Australia. Rather, it presents the experience of an official who has been concerned with the development of the Commonwealth freedom of information legislation from the time it first appeared on the political agenda in Australia; who has taken part in hundreds of hours of discussion and debate on the topic by officials; who has shared in much of the academic consideration of the subject; who has drafted a score of Cabinet submissions on the subject for consideration by Ministers; who has worked closely with three Attorneys-General on the matter; who has both formally and informally canvassed a wide range of issues with members of a Senate Committee, and who has spent long hours with one of our best parliamentary counsel in the business of translating concepts into legislation which, it is hoped, is reasonably workable.

Type
Research Article
Information
Federal Law Review , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , March 1983 , pp. 5 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Australian National University

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References

1 E Campbell, “Public Access to Government Documents” (1967) 41 AU 73.

2 J Spigelman, Secrecy: Political Censorship in Australia (1972). The extensive bibliography on freedom of information prepared for the Senate Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs lists nothing of consequence in Australia between the Campbell article and the Spigelman book — see Freedom of Information, Report by the Senate Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs on the Freedom of Information Bill 1978 and Aspects of the Archives Bill 1978, Par! Paper No 272/1979 (“Senate Committee”).

3 Campbell, supra n I, 77. See also L Curtis, “Who Owns Government Information?” (1979) 38 Australian Journal of Public Administration 34.

4 R v Local Government Board; Ex parte Arlidge [1915] AC 120.

5 [1914] 1 KB 160.

6 (1951) 83 CLR 1, 179.

7 WS Holdsworth, A History of English Law (1938) X. 243 ff.

8 See especially R v Gaming Board for Great Britain, Ex parte Benaim and Khaida [1970] 2 QB 417. The principle has been substantially developed in subsequent cases.

9 Rogers v Home Secretary[l973] AC 388; Sankey v Whitlam (1978) 142 CLR 1.

10 Sankey v Whitlam (1978) 142 CLR I.

11 Attorney-General v Jonathon Cape Ltd [1976] QB 752.

12 Sankey v Whitlam (1978) 142 CLR 1. 98 per Mason J.

13 Particularly in an address by the Rt Hon JM Fraser, MP, at the opening of the Conference of Australian and Pacific Ombudsmen, Canberra 1982.

14 Pad.field v Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food [1968] AC 997, I053-1054 per Lord Pearce.

15 Kolotex Hosiery(Austra/ia) v Federal Commissioner of Taxation (1975) 132 CLR 535; Bailey v Federal Commissioner of Taxation (1977) 13 ALR 41.

16 Read v Nerey Nominees Pty Ltd [1979] VR 47.

17 Re Reference under section 11 of Ombudsman Act 1976 for an advisory opinion; Ex parte Director-General of Social Services (1979) 2 ALD 86.

18 Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth) s 37.

19 Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth) ss 36, 36A.

20 H Reps Deb 1974, Vol 92, 4603.

21 Sen Deb 1975. Vol 64, 2727.

22 Policy Proposals for Freedom of Information legislation — Report of Interdepartmental Committee, Parl Paper No 400/1976.

23 Ibid 3.

24 Report of Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration, (Chairman: Dr HC Coombs), Appendix Vol 2, Parl Paper 187/1976.

25 Ibidpara 10.7.22.

26 Sen Deb 1978, Vol 77, 2689-2692.

27 See Senate Committee, supra n 2, Appendix 4, for details of expectations. For summary of requests December 1982 - March 1983 see Appendix to this paper.

28 (1981) 147 CLR 39, 52.

29 Ibid.

30 FOI Acts 14.

31 So described by Lord Boyle of Handsworth, “Ministers and the Administrative Process” (1980) 58 Public Administration 1.

32 FOI Act ss 33, 34, 35, 36 and 58(3). The so-called “conclusive certificate” provisions.

33 FOI Acts 58.

34 FOI Acts 58(2).

35 The exception is the jurisdiction to review a decision of the Minister to deport a person under s 12 ors 13 of the Migration Act I 958 (Cth).

36 FOI Acts 58(4).

37 FOI Acts 67.

38 Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth) s 13.

39 FOI Acts 4: cf definition of “document of an agency” and definition of “official document of a Minister”.

40 FOi Act s 23.

41 Letter from Mr GJ Yeend, [now Sir Geoffrey Yeend] Secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet to Chairman, Senate Committee: Senate Committee, supra n 2, Appendix 9, Document No 43.

42 FOI Act s 33.

43 FOI Act s 46.

44 Allied Mills Industries Pty Ltd v Trade Practices Commission (1981) 34 ALR I 05.

45 FOI Acts 37.

46 FOI Act s 36.

47 See, eg, National Labor Relations Board v Sears, Roebuck and Co (1975)421 US 132; Souciev David (1971) 448 F 2d 1067.

48 Attorney-General's Department, Guidelines to the Freedom of Information Act (1982): Memorandum No 27.

49 Commonwealth v John Fairfax and Sons Ltd (1981) 147 CLR 39.

50 FOI Act s 27 (notice to be given to suppliers of commercially sensitive information); s 41 (documents affecting personal privacy); s 43 (documents relating to business affairs, etc); and s 59 (reverse FOI procedure in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal).

51 FOI Act s 15.

52 FOI Act s 15(3); s 24(3).

53 FOI Act s 24(3).

54 FOI Act s 61.

55 FOI Act s 26.

56 FOI Act Part VI.

57 FOI Act s 12.

58 FOI Acts 12(2)(b).

59 This is suggested by the absence of any express limitation ins 12(2)(b), and the application of s 3(2) of the Act.

60 FOI Act s 22.

61 Sullivan v Department of Transport (1978) 20 ALR 323.

62 FOI Act s 33.