Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

The Commonwealth's Lobbying Code of Conduct, which is a transparency measure, of course, was established by the last Labor government. For the first time, lobbyists were required to register their activity and comply with strict rules on transparency. Labor created the lobbying code, and it's worth saying by way of contrast that the former Liberal government tried to privatise the visa system by handing it to its lobbyist mates. The current freedom of information regime is a legacy of the last Labor government. Labor abolished conclusive certificates. Labor created a commissioner model with three commissioners—an Information Commissioner, a Privacy Commissioner and a Freedom of Information Commissioner—for a no-cost review of FOI decisions. The former Liberal government, regrettably, smashed that model, trying to repeal the legislation and then defunding the office.

See this speech in context