The claim comes from Kerry O’Brien’s speech at the Walkleys, where he criticised the Albanese Government for not living up to the benchmarks they set while in opposition,
Tue 2 Dec 2025 00.00
Photo: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas
The Claim: Labor’s proposed legislation will make it easier for governments to flout freedom of information laws.
That comes from former ABC broadcaster Kerry O’Brien’s ‘thunderous’ speech at the 70th Walkley awards on Thursday, where he criticised the Albanese government for not living up to the benchmarks they set while in opposition,
“‘Reform freedom of information laws so they can’t be flouted by government,’ Albanese said in 2019. But we’re told his proposed new freedom of information laws will have the opposite effect.”
O’Brien is quoting from Albanese’s landmark Labor and Democracy speech, where the future prime minister promised “a big dose of Australian sunshine” should Labor win government.
What are Albanese’s proposed freedom of information laws?
The Albanese government announced its proposed changes to freedom of information (FOI) in August, to widespread criticism from transparency organisations.
Among other changes, the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025 would, if passed:
The government’s bill was labelled ‘flawed and friendless’ by the Centre for Public Integrity, and research from The Australia Institute found it would “make a repeat of the disastrous Robodebt coverup more likely”.
Would the government’s changes make it easier to ‘flout’ freedom of information?
The Albanese government is already failing to live up to the transparency they promised when it comes to FOI: the share of requests granted in full has dropped by three quarters since 2007.
Outright refusals of requests have also grown dramatically, quadrupling over the past two decades. In 2021-22, the last year of the Morrison government, 19% of requests were refused. That’s grown to 25% last financial year.
In short: the problems plaguing the FOI system are caused by government secrecy, not applicants who want to better understand the operations of their government.
And, as Australia Institute analysis has shown, the Albanese government’s proposed changes would exacerbate these problems, making it harder and more expensive for Australians to get information from the government.
Kerry O’Brien is right: Albanese’s new laws will make it easier for governments to flout freedom of information, despite what Albanese promised in 2019.
Verdict: True
Sometimes, the best thing that can happen to a government is to lose a vote in Parliament. Doing so allows a government say, hand-on-heart, that it did everything that it could to fulfill its promises, while sparing that government from the disastrous consequences of its promises.
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