Accountability Round Table has long held concerns about the protection of Freedom of Information given the abolition of the oversight body, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), followed by its restoration in a weakened and underfunded form. The Australian Nati

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION Open Government Australia in its Draft National Action Plan includes Commitment 3.1 – Information management and access laws for the 21st century. At present the draft commitment reads; “We will ensure our information access laws are modern and appropriate

OGP – NATIONAL ACTION PLAN – RECOGNISING THE ROLE OF THE OAIC This first submission from Accountability Round Table suggesting changes to the Open Government Partnership Draft National Action Plan addresses the role, overlooked in the National Action Plan, of the Office of

The Accountability Round Table continues to be concerned about the reduced state of the Federal Freedom of Information Act and its implementation. The role of the freedom of information Commissioner remains vacant and has been vacant for some 22 months. The submission below is a suppl

Peter Timmins’ most recent post to the Open Government Partnership civil society network page reveals that the Australian Government will commit to a series of reforms to accountability and transparency before the end of 2016. The OGP Civil Society page can be found here Peter T

The Accountability Round Table has long been concerned about the reduced state of the Federal Freedom of Information Act and its implementation. The submission below, and its covering letter addresses part of our concern in drawing attention to the administration of the FOI Act by the

ART is disappointed in the response from the ALP and Coalition to its survey on accountability measures. It seems very unlikely, whichever party (or parties) forms government, that the next Federal Government will be willing to take on the reforms necessary to deliver best practice in

The OAIC – The effect of the Government 2016-7 Budget An ART background paper to the election commitments sought by ART from all parties prior to the the July 2nd Federal Election June 2016 Introduction Over the last two years the Government failed in its attempt to have a Bill passed

ONE STEP FORWARD….. At last we have a major win. Thanks to some tireless and extensive lobbying from ART and others concerned with transparency, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has been re-funded. Furthermore, some special  attention has been paid to reinfo

The Hon Malcolm Turnbull, MP Prime Minister Parliament House CANBERRA   ACT 2600 06/04/2016   Dear Prime Minister I Chair the Accountability Round Table . I refer to our previous correspondence of 10 October 2015 concerning the Open Government Partnership.   May we thank you and

The Open Government Partnership, an international effort to secure commitments from governments worldwide ” to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption and harness new technologies to strengthen governance” was signed up to by the Turnbull Government in Nov

Malcolm Turnbull has promised to “restore accountability and improve transparency measures to be more accountable to you”. That commitment had been breached by the government, in particular by its bill to abolish the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, a mat

George Brandis may not have answered our letter to him concerning the defunding of the OAIC with anything other than the justification of efficiency, arguing that abolition of the OAIC is “consistent with its policy to reduce the size of government and streamline the external re

The intransigence of the Attorney General on the matter of  the abolition of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner continues. This failure to act renders the government’s commitment to open government a hollow promise. In our latest letter, we call on the Attorne

In an article for The Conversation, Johan Lidberg of Monash University writes of the test for Turnbull in promoting open government and a “Government 2.0” approach to freedom of information, in what to do about Abbott’s FOI hostile approach and the OAIC “kill b

John McMillan, the inaugural Australian information commissioner from 2010 until this year, has written for ‘The Australian’ on the need for a permanent Freedom of Information Commissioner. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/commitment-to-freedom-of-information-bolste

More on the ongoing saga of the government’s failure to maintain the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. This article by Jane Lee was published in the Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbott-government-has-not-appointed-

In an article published by The Guardian, Australia, Daniel Hurst has drawn attention to international concern over the effective closure of the Office o of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).  John Dowd, President of the International Commission of Jurists, (ICJ) has writt

The Attorney-General’s letter to ART of 21 May 2015  and the evidence given at the recent Senate Estimates Committee Hearing, confirm that the OAIC remains in deep trouble.  The letter produced below sets out what  ART sees as fundamental concerns – including that if the O

The Government has denied funds to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.  Tim Smith, David Harper, Stephen Charles write that in so doing, “the government claimed to be entitled, without the agreement of the legislature, to bring about the demise of an entity cr