Albanese government worse than Morrison era at producing documents for public scrutiny, report finds
The warning comes after the centre assessed the government's response to freedom of information applications, a tool that allows anyone an opportunity to request documents that are not publicly available.
In 2022-23, for the first time, more FOI requests were refused than fully granted to applicants, the report found, which it said undermined the transparency principles of the entire system. The Albanese government was first elected in May 2022.
The report also found the number of FOI documents granted in full had fallen by more than half in just over a decade – from 59% in 2011-12 to 25% in 2023-24.
It found the rate of outright refusals nearly doubled, from 12% to 23% during the same period.
Further, when an FOI decision is challenged and reviewed by the information commissioner, the wait time has increased from six months in 2016-17 to 15.5 months in 2023-24.
The centre's director, Geoffrey Watson, called on the Albanese government to 'reverse this worrying trend to restore the public's right to know.'
'The alarming deterioration in transparency is deeply troubling.' Watson said. 'With the Albanese government's supermajority, the risk of entrenched secrecy becomes greater, undermining democratic accountability.'
The centre also found the Albanese government had a worse compliance rate with Senate orders for the production of documents than its Coalition predecessor.
'The Morrison government's compliance rate with orders to produce documents in the 46th parliament was 48.7% compared to the Albanese government's rate of 32.8% in the 47th parliament,' the report said.
'This represents the second-worst performance of any parliament since 1993'.
The centre also public interest immunity claims over documents have been steadily increasing. These claims are used by the government to withhold documents by arguing their release would not be in the public interest.
In the last parliament, one claim was made every week.
Prof Gabrielle Appleby, a board member of the Centre for Public Integrity, said 'ministers are hiding information from the Senate and the Australian people'.
'There appears to be no other good explanation for such a significant deterioration in the rate of compliance. This is corrosive of democratic accountability,' Appleby said.
The centre said that without an independent legal umpire, as exists in New South Wales, it was impossible to state how many of these public interest immunity claims were 'bogus and evasive or legitimate and necessary'.
Earlier this year, the federal government refused to release a 32-page document outlining its draft response to a parliamentary inquiry that called for sweeping changes to gambling regulation.
This week, the ACT independent senator David Pocock pushed for the documents to be published as part of a senate order for the production of documents.
The Liberals and the Greens have given their support to the order, giving Labor until the end of the month to comply or explain why they will continue to keep the documents secret.
In May, the information commission revealed the federal government was refusing freedom of information requests at a rate not seen for a decade.
At the time, Transparency International Australia chief executive officer, Clancy Moore, said the FoI system was essential to ensuring accountability and integrity, but refusal rates suggested 'important information about the functioning of government is being kept from everyday Australians'.
The Centre for Public Intergity report did note some improvements to the FoI system, including faster processing times and a reduction in the backlog of decisions awaiting review.
In 2023, the Australian Financial Review reported the prime minister's office had initally refused to release his ministerial diary under freedom of information laws as it would 'unreasonably divert' staff resources and unreasonably interfere with his job. The decison was subsequently reversed.
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