Ms MARTIN - 1999-02-16
This morning in his speech outlining his lack of vision for the Territory promised to run ‘an honest, open and accountable government’. Will he open up his government to accountability and scrutiny and support Labor’s Freedom of Information Bill? Or will he look for any argument of convenience to keep Territorians in the dark?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I can say up-front that I don’t believe in FOI legislation. I think it’s unnecessary. I think it’s overly bureaucratic. I think it’s not suited to the Northern Territory. And I haven’t seen anything that’s been put before me that would counter the sorts of examples that are coming out from other jurisdictions. For example, for the Commonwealth government in 1996-97, the estimated staff costs of the Commonwealth Freedom of Information Act amounted to $14.9m, for about 215 staffers. You might say that’s the Commonwealth and they get a lot of inquires. But the reality is that that figure works out at about $519 per inquiry. In Western Australia the average cost per inquiry is $3095.
The report from the Auditor-General for the Commonwealth – and certainly the trend is the same in Western Australia – is that individual requirement to access FOI legislation is falling away. Individuals are finding more and more that they can use other methods – through departmental guidelines, for example – to get the information they require.
Mr Stirling: What departmental guidelines?
Mr BURKE: The predominant number of inquiries …
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Chief Minister has the floor.
Mr BURKE: The predominant number of inquiries are from individuals seeking access to personal information. That sort of availability is well and truly there in the Northern Territory. Equally, when we look at FOI legislation, apart from the costs, apart from the resources involved, when we consider the size of the Northern Territory, I believe very sincerely that the structures that we have in place in our departments are crystal clear in their requirements to give individuals access to the information that they require, providing that it is not mischievous and providing that it doesn’t breach others’ privacy.
The privacy of individuals has to be considered alongside FOI legislation. I refer members to the incident in Victoria where particular nurses were informants in a murder trial and the convicted felon was able to access their names through FOI. That is an example of the need for very strict privacy legislation to accompany FOI legislation.
I don’t believe it’s necessary in the Northern Territory. I’m quite happy to take any correspondence from any ordinary Territorian who can demonstrate to me that through departmental guidelines their required access to information is being withheld from them. I give an absolute undertaking that I would follow that up. That’s a long way from setting up overly bureaucratic and very costly legislation under the sham of freedom of information.
The legislation in the Commonwealth and in other jurisdictions is already being referred to by people who are trying to access it as ‘freedom from information’. We’ve tabled in this House on a number of occasions the classic letter from Paul Keating to Lois O’Donohue: ‘Dear Lois, …. Love, Paul’ – the whole lot of it blanked out. I certainly don’t believe that’s what Territorians want and I don’t accept it.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I can say up-front that I don’t believe in FOI legislation. I think it’s unnecessary. I think it’s overly bureaucratic. I think it’s not suited to the Northern Territory. And I haven’t seen anything that’s been put before me that would counter the sorts of examples that are coming out from other jurisdictions. For example, for the Commonwealth government in 1996-97, the estimated staff costs of the Commonwealth Freedom of Information Act amounted to $14.9m, for about 215 staffers. You might say that’s the Commonwealth and they get a lot of inquires. But the reality is that that figure works out at about $519 per inquiry. In Western Australia the average cost per inquiry is $3095.
The report from the Auditor-General for the Commonwealth – and certainly the trend is the same in Western Australia – is that individual requirement to access FOI legislation is falling away. Individuals are finding more and more that they can use other methods – through departmental guidelines, for example – to get the information they require.
Mr Stirling: What departmental guidelines?
Mr BURKE: The predominant number of inquiries …
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Chief Minister has the floor.
Mr BURKE: The predominant number of inquiries are from individuals seeking access to personal information. That sort of availability is well and truly there in the Northern Territory. Equally, when we look at FOI legislation, apart from the costs, apart from the resources involved, when we consider the size of the Northern Territory, I believe very sincerely that the structures that we have in place in our departments are crystal clear in their requirements to give individuals access to the information that they require, providing that it is not mischievous and providing that it doesn’t breach others’ privacy.
The privacy of individuals has to be considered alongside FOI legislation. I refer members to the incident in Victoria where particular nurses were informants in a murder trial and the convicted felon was able to access their names through FOI. That is an example of the need for very strict privacy legislation to accompany FOI legislation.
I don’t believe it’s necessary in the Northern Territory. I’m quite happy to take any correspondence from any ordinary Territorian who can demonstrate to me that through departmental guidelines their required access to information is being withheld from them. I give an absolute undertaking that I would follow that up. That’s a long way from setting up overly bureaucratic and very costly legislation under the sham of freedom of information.
The legislation in the Commonwealth and in other jurisdictions is already being referred to by people who are trying to access it as ‘freedom from information’. We’ve tabled in this House on a number of occasions the classic letter from Paul Keating to Lois O’Donohue: ‘Dear Lois, …. Love, Paul’ – the whole lot of it blanked out. I certainly don’t believe that’s what Territorians want and I don’t accept it.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016