Copyright smh
The Albanese government came to power promising the world: a commitment to transparency, respect for parliament, and checks and balances, but it is gridlocked by arrogance. Its zeal to reform and for open government has evaporated. Regrettably, Labor has twinned the greater power bestowed by the ballot box with less enthusiasm for accountable democracy. It has squibbed it on freedom of information. Its proposed changes – expanding exemptions, re-introducing application fees and banning anonymous requests – are antithetical to open government. The statistics alone are disturbing: only 21 per cent of 2023-24 FOI requests were granted and it took 51 hours for a decision. In 2006-2007, under the Howard government, 81 per cent of requests were granted, and a decision took 13 hours. In other sordid attempts to control the narrative, the Albanese government spent weeks playing dumb about the return of the ISIS brides, until details came out in Senate estimates this month; and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unfairly ticked off our North American correspondent Michael Koziol for asking President Donald Trump if he had really forgiven Australia’s US ambassador Kevin Rudd for calling him a village idiot. Six months after Labor’s re-election, the independent think tank the Centre for Public Integrity reported on the party’s transparency record and awarded fails in six fields: secrecy, jobs for mates, reining in lobbyists, parliamentary accountability, an independent public service and oversight of the executive branch of government.
