The Liberals have accused the Albanese government of a culture of secrecy after it refused to disclose the prime minister’s letters to his ministers laying out their responsibilities – despite the former Coalition government also failing to disclose the letters.
The freedom of information request, made by Liberal senator Maria Kovacic, was rejected by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, which cited national security and cabinet solidarity concerns. The rejection was not without precedence – the former Morrison government also rejected a freedom of information request by Guardian Australia for the letters in 2021.
The Department blocked the release of 23 letters in full, stating that 21 are “cabinet documents”, six are “documents affecting national security, defence or international relations”, all are part of “deliberative processes”, and all could reveal “certain operations of agencies”.
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Geoffrey Watson, a former counsel assisting the New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption who is now with the Centre for Public Integrity, said the latest refusal showed the government is “obsessed” with secrecy, and disputed the argument that the letters could be considered cabinet documents.
“I think the assertion that all those categories would apply to these kinds of documents is bizarre. Even the general assertion that they [are] cabinet documents , they’re plainly not,” he said.
“These are actually instructions issued to [a] particular minister as to what areas they need to focus on or to comment upon as part of a fair ministerial role … That’s actually just to do with the prime minister’s office allocating who does what and speaks on which issue that’s on part of cabinet. It’s not a cabinet document merely because it comes out of the office of somebody who is a member of cabinet.”
Watson said on issues around national security and defence, the answer would be to “redact, not to withhold the entire document”.
“Sounds like it’s really just another example of what appears to be an obsession with this government regarding secrecy.”
No Australian prime minister has released the charter letters, but other jurisdictions nationally and internationally have been more transparent.
The Queensland state government publishes each of its ministers’ charter letters, the EU commission releases mission letters for its commissioners, and Canada has also published its mandate letters to ministers outlining their responsibilities.
In response to questions from Guardian Australia, a spokesperson for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet said it was “not appropriate to comment on specific matters”.
“PM&C takes its legislative obligations seriously and processes all requests in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 1982,” they said. “All applicants are provided with reasons for decisions and advice on their review rights.”
The Labor government has been under fire over its proposed amendments to the freedom of information act, which would widen cabinet document exemptions and widen exemptions for deliberative processes. This would make it even easier for FoI officers to refuse the release of a document on those grounds.
Labor arguments for the reforms included claims AI bots were generating FoI requests, but a 17 October Senate committee hearing on the legislation was told the Home Affairs department and Services Australia had no evidence of AI bots making FoI requests.
They noted the FoI act already ensures FoI requests made by bots do not have to be considered.
After her request, Kovacic accused the government of presiding over a culture of secrecy.
“From a massive spike in FoI refusals, to the weaponisation of NDA’s in stakeholder negotiations, and a secret manual telling government officials how to avoid answering questions at Senate estimates, this government has shown that the promise of transparency was nothing more than a pre-election talking point,” she said. Kovacic joined parliament in 2023, after the Morrison government.
