The Albanese Government today finally admitted defeat and scrapped its toxic Freedom of Information bill after massive community backlash and almost unanimous opposition from all political parties except Labor.
The Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025 was justified by the Government on a series of false claims about foreign bots abusing FOI and the need for even more secrecy to “protect” government decision-making.
After close scrutiny from parliament and civil society, it was clear that Labor’s FOI “reforms” would only make the FOI system more expensive, more secretive and even slower.
No one outside of the Government supported this Bill, and this backdown from Labor is a recognition of the reality that their FOI reforms had no friends and no supporters inside or outside Parliament.
Greens Senator and Justice Spokesperson David Shoebridge said:
“This Bill was written by a Government high on hubris with an addiction to secrecy. This Bill had no friends inside or outside of Parliament and Labor has finally recognised this.
“Labor’s attack was never about fixing FOI for the public, it was about making it harder to see what the Government was doing.
“The problem with FOIs is not that the public is getting too much information, it’s that the government is spending a million hours of bureaucrats’ time a year refusing and redacting applications.
“The claims from Labor that AI ‘bots’ were to blame for vexatious FOI claims were based on zero evidence. The threat to the public’s right to know isn’t from Russian bots, it’s from the Labor Cabinet.
“The Albanese Labor Government has been one of the most secretive Governments in Australian history. This commitment to keep the public in the dark must end with the death of this Bill.
“Now that this Bill has been withdrawn, it is time for a positive way forward in FOI reform.
“What is now needed is an open public consultation process with public submissions and real transparency that can build public confidence in positive FOI reforms.”