Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you both. In concurrence with the remarks of the opposition and in addition, the legislation of course does not change the status of intelligence agencies, which are now excluded from the FOI Act. I also remind the Senate that the ALRC open government report recommended that the intelligence agencies should remain wholly excluded from the operation of the act. In its reasons the review observed that, if intelligence agencies were subject to the FOI Act, ‘the vast majority ... of these documents would be exempt ...’

In answer to your specific question, the nature of the functions of the intelligence agencies is such that those functions would be compromised by the public dissemination of that information. These functions cannot be carried out with the same level of transparency ordinarily expected of administrative action. For those reasons and the reasons articulated by Senator Brandis, we would not agree with the amendment.