Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

Schedule 3, part 2, division 1 of the bill introduces a 40-hour cap on processing FOI requests. The Environmental Defenders Office warned that this could be used to reject complex but legitimate requests. My question to the minister is this: how will the proposed 40-hour processing cap avoid becoming a blanket excuse for agencies to reject complex but legitimate requests? This arbitrary limit risks undermining access to information on matters of public interest, and I call on the Attorney to reconsider this cap and ensure fairness in FOI processing.

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