Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

The government has a $32 billion plan to build 1.2 million new homes by 2029. Those opposite are only interested in playing political games and getting in the way of genuine action. When an FOI request is received, as required under the legislation, consultation occurs with the party involved, as the government did in the instance with Cbus. Cbus objected to the release of documents it considered to be business information, an available exemption under the FOI Act. Consistent with this, the government made a claim of public interest immunity in response to the Senate order for production of the same documents. This was done in good faith to protect business information and to ensure we can continue to undertake robust and frank stakeholder consultations which are ultimately in the public interest. We want to continue to have frank and candid consultation processes in the future, and that's why we comply with the legislation when it comes to FOIs. We released the relevant documents on 5 September 2024, in line with the information commissioner's decision in the usual way.