The Coalition has condemned the Albanese Labor Government for ramming its Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025 through the Parliament - shutting down debate, blocking scrutiny and voting down every proposed amendment except its own.
Leader of the Opposition Sussan Ley said "Anthony Albanese promised a new era of integrity and transparency but instead has delivered the most secretive government since Federation."
Shadow Attorney-General Andrew Wallace said "the Prime Minister talks transparency but governs in the shadows." He said Labor's behaviour in the House today laid bare a government that fears scrutiny and is determined to avoid it at any cost.
"Today Labor used its numbers to silence debate, block a proper inquiry, and force this legislation through with no justification or urgency," Mr Wallace said. "This is law-making by arrogance from a Prime Minister who made big promises on integrity and has broken every one of them."
Under these friendless reforms, Australians would be charged to access information about their own government and Cabinet secrecy will be expanded.
Labor would be able to toss out requests it labels "frivolous or vexatious", drag out processing times, and hide more documents simply by narrowing what counts as an "official record".
The result is simple: more refusals, fewer disclosures and weaker accountability.
This is not modernisation, it is a retreat from transparency and a truth tax on accountability.
Since taking office, Labor has normalised secrecy by using non-disclosure agreements on consultations, issuing a secret manual to stage-manage Senate Estimates, repeatedly defying Parliament's orders to produce documents, ignoring recommendations to improve access to information and reducing resources for those whose job it is to hold the government to account.
FOI was never designed to make life comfortable for those in power. It exists so citizens, journalists and the Parliament can see how decisions are made and hold governments to account.
Recent FOI releases exposing warnings about Labor's rushed NDIS changes and doubts over its Medicare bulk-billing incentives show exactly why Labor wants to shut the door on accountability.
Australians deserve a government that is transparent, accountable and humble enough to remember that information belongs to the people, not to ministers or bureaucrats.
The Coalition will oppose this Bill and continue to defend the public's right to know.
