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The federal government has announced its intention to charge a mandatory fee for freedom of information (FOI) requests, claiming the system is overrun by “AI bot-generated requests”.
Australian Attorney-General Michelle Rowland has announced that she will introduce legislation to Parliament, allowing the government to charge a fee for anyone making a freedom of information request.
“Freedom of information is a vital feature of our democratic system,” Rowland said in a 2 September statement, but she added that the current “FOI framework is stuck in the 1980s”.
Rowland said the “changes will continue to promote transparency in government while ensuring public sector resources are not unduly misused by anonymous or vexatious requests”.
An exemption will be made for requests for personal information, but otherwise a fee will apply for politicians, journalists, and researchers. The fee is thought to be about $30 to $50 per request.
Mark Butler (pictured), the Minister for Health and Aged Care, defended the move during a morning doorstop at Parliament House, saying that the system was being inundated by nuisance requests, some possibly malicious.
“Many of them, we’re sure, are AI bot-generated requests. They may be linked to foreign actors, foreign powers, criminal gangs,” Butler told the media.
“We don’t know where those requests come from.
“We’ve taken the view, as state governments have, that a modest charging environment is consistent with usual cost recovery principles.”
The proposed legislation has drawn criticism from the LNP opposition, Tim Wilson, shadow minister for industrial relations and employment, calling it a tax on truth in an interview on Sky News and saying there are better ways to combat bots.
“The claim they put out there is that there are bots out there doing things, now that may be happening, but this is dealt with by software platforms every day,” Wilson said.
“If there’s other information that’s being accessed by nefarious actors, provide evidence where this is a problem, but again, provide an alternative solution.”
The Human Rights Law Centre has also criticised Labor’s move, with its associate legal director, Kieran Pender, telling AAP that the government should be focusing on other transparency issues.
“The Albanese government should prioritise fixing whistleblowing laws and winding back draconian secrecy offences, rather than making government information less accessible and more expensive,” Pender said.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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