Ombudsman to review FoI laws

A dangerous culture of withholding information from the public has grown up in NSW over the years of the state Labor governments. It is a pernicious spreading disease in this state, which affects the government itself, the universities, and the police.
The NSW government has repeatedly failed to examine the state’s Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. Not only that, but the government has made numerous changes to the laws to make it harder to access information. Any information released could both potentially damage the government’s image. With approval ratings as low as this government’s, and with the media so openly hostile, they would not dare to hold a review of the laws, much less overhaul them.
The FoI laws are stagnant, and so they favour those who wish to withold information, rather than those members of the public who wish to release it. As a result , other institutions, such as the universities, are taking advantage.
In an article in the SMH on April 26, Gerard Noonan wrote that in 2007, one out of every two requests to universities for information was ignored. Noonan then said that there are 23 different agencies that are exempt from FoI requests and 25 categories of reports that do not have to be released to the public.
Now the state Ombudsman, Bruce Barbour, who will review the FoI laws in lieu of the government’s refusal to take action over them, has made his irritation with the government widely known. In a statement, Barbour said “For almost 14 years, each NSW Ombudsman, including myself, has called for an independent and comprehensive review of the FoI Act. In the absence of the NSW government initiating a review of the act, I have decided to conduct my own independent review”.
Although a spokesman for the Premier said he would support the review, their complete disinterest in reviewing the laws does not bode well for their continued support in the coming months. By Barbour choosing to bypass the government’s opinion with his decision, Labor may well decide to kill the review before it makes a reccomendation.