The Truth Tax | How Labor’s FOI Bill Hides the Facts скачать в хорошем качестве

The Truth Tax | How Labor’s FOI Bill Hides the Facts

Freedom of information is not a privilege, it’s a right owed to every Australian. In this powerful second reading speech on the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025, Shadow Attorney-General and Federal Member for Fisher, Andrew Wallace MP, exposes how Labor’s proposed reforms would weaken Australia’s transparency laws and turn our Freedom of Information system from a presumption of openness into a presumption of control. He argues that the Bill tramples on the public’s right to know, introducing new barriers like a 40-hour processing cap, bans on anonymous requests, and expanded cabinet exemptions that would bury documents and hide accountability. From his seat on the Sunshine Coast, Andrew Wallace warns that this so-called “modernisation” is really a truth tax, one that forces Australians to pay to see how their own government works. He calls instead for genuine reform: restoring transparency as the Act’s core purpose, protecting anonymity, properly funding the OAIC, and ensuring that government information remains the property of the people, not the bureaucracy.