Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

The government opposes the amendments. The amendments to the objects of the act balance promoting transparent government with the countervailing public interest in protecting essential private interests and the proper functioning of government.

The amendments in relation to vexatious requests allow multiple requests to be treated as a single request and will help agencies deal with abusive requests and repeated requests by applicants for the same information. I note that the government has also moved amendments in relation to the anonymous measures in the bill and I'll speak to those later in the debate. The amendments in relation to anonymous applications will ensure vexatious applicant declarations are unable to be circumvented, discourage applicants from engaging in inappropriate or threatening behaviour and enable agencies to know who they are dealing with. The amendments in relation to the deliberative processes exemption provide greater statutory guidance on the harm the exemption is designed to protect against and reflect that the effective operation of government relies on agencies being able to provide and ministers being able to consider frank and comprehensive advice in confidence.

The amendments to the cabinet exemption are necessary to more clearly and accurately reflect how the cabinet process works in practice and to ensure appropriate protections for the full range of documents prepared to support the cabinet process and the workings of cabinet government.

Question unresolved.

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