Senator Faulkner launches Information Awareness Month
On 5 May 2009, Senator John Faulkner launched the Information Awareness Month at the National Archives of Australia. See Senator Faulkner's address. Senator Faulkner stated:
"In the 21st century, new and emerging technologies, especially the advent of Web 2.0, provide a wide range of ways for Australians to both access government information and engage with government decision-making. This proliferation of new platforms and technologies provides new opportunities. Government information also needs to be developed in standard formats, which enable it to be properly indexed and searchable on-line...
...Recently, I announced the release of an exposure draft of proposed amendments to the FOI Act, including the establishment of an Office of the Information Commissioner. The Government had already introduced legislation to fulfil the first of our commitments in the area of FOI – a bill to remove the power to issue conclusive certificates in the FOI Act (and the Archives Act 1983). The repeal of that power will mean that all decisions by Archives and FOI decision makers to refuse access to documents on the grounds of exemptions will be subject to full independent merits review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).
Our proposed FOI reform legislation will fulfil the rest of our election commitments. The draft Information Commissioner Bill 2009 and Freedom of Information Amendment (Reform) Bill 2009, have been released for public consultation. They will deliver the first substantial overhaul of the federal Freedom of Information regime since the Act’s inception in 1982.
The legislation will also implement a new Commonwealth Government publication scheme. This publication scheme will require agencies to actively consider the types of information they have which can and should be made available to the public. It will not only encourage, but mandate, agencies to publish what they can lawfully publish – forcing a change of attitude for agencies to think about what they should be publishing rather than what they are obliged to.
In other words, the publication scheme and the Information Commissioner’s role in overseeing and ensuring compliance with it, aim to change the emphasis – from agencies defining their publication of information by what is required, to a culture of openness where information is made available unless it is against the public interest to do so."