Key Point
- Conclusive certificates will be abolished as a first step
in 2008, and further reforms will be enacted in 2009.
The next year will be an eventful one in FOI reform. As
promised in its Information Policy last year, in its move to
encourage a pro-disclosure environment within Government, the
Rudd Government will abolish conclusive certificates as the
first step in a process of reforming the Commonwealth Freedom
of Information Act (we looked at the Policy
here).
Making the announcement on Tuesday, the Special Minister of
State Senator John Faulkner
said that "abolishing conclusive certificates is a
major step towards restoring trust and integrity in the
handling of government information as all decisions refusing
access to documents by FOI decision-makers will now be subject
to full independent merits review by the Administrative Appeals
Tribunal."
