The transparency measures allow journalists and members of the public to request information; however, Attorney-General Michelle Rowland told The Australian that tighter measures were needed to stop AI bots from flooding the system.
She said taxpayer resources were being wasted chasing FOI requests linked to foreign actors and criminals.
Shadow attorney-general Julian Leeser said the attempted “truth tax” was Labor’s way of ducking accountability and part of a bigger patter of ducking transparency.
“Since coming to office, Labor have overseen a surge in FOI refusals, normalised the use of nondisclosure agreements in consultations, issued a secret playbook directing public servants on how to handle (Senate) estimates, flouted Senate orders for production of documents, tried to change standing orders to limit parliamentary scrutiny, and slashed the very staff whose job it is to hold the government to account,” he said.
Shadow attorney-general Julian Leeser criticised the proposed changes to the FOI process as a ‘truth tax’. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman
“Now they want a wholesale truth tax that will require Australians to pay to play to access information held by the government.”
He said that while Labor “talked a big game on transparency”, it has instead “gone in the opposite direction”.
“A wholesale truth tax that requires Australians to pay to play on FOI sends a clear message: Labor believe information belongs to them, not the people,” he said.
“This government’s pattern of behaviour over many years shows it has a problem with accountability and it has a problem with transparency. These changes are a character test for the Prime Minister and whether or not he is able to be open with Australians.”
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley told Coalition colleagues the legislation was of “huge concern” to the opposition and said discussions would continue.
Ms Rowland also briefed her Labor colleagues during caucus meetings, and Mr Leeser confirmed he would be briefed by the Coalition later on Tuesday.
The Greens have also raged against the proposed measures and urged Labor to share evidence of AI bots clogging the system for nefarious means.
Greens justice spokesman David Shoebridge said rather than fixing the “broken” FOI system, Labor had chosen to make it “more expensive and even more impenetrable”.
“Instead of addressing the fundamental secrecy problems inside the government, Labor has instead decided the issue is with the people trying to access information,” he said.
“The changes propose a fundamental shift away from the principle that government information belongs to the public and should be freely accessible. It’s a dark day for democracy that this is even on the table.”
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