FREEDOM OF INFORMATION?    (FOI)

All sections of Government (Govt.) use provisions of the FOI Act to prevent any matter from becoming public knowledge. Damage to State security or commercial confidentiality are a couple of reasons often quoted to prevent the release of embarrassing information.

The excuse not in the public's interest may also mean not in the interests of the political party to be re-elected.

"Conclusive certificates" are instruments signed by a relevant government Minister to prevent the release / publication of sensitive information - this effectively removes any possibility of gaining an insight into the decision process making of a department. The "certificate" appears to be a very powerful weapon to avoid making and matter transparent to the enquirer.

Prohibitive research fees are often required to access information thereby preventing many groups from accessing statistics e.g. suicide figures for a particular local government area. Few organisation can afford the exorbitant fees demanded and so secrecy to cover any political wheeling and dealing can be easily put into place. The more sensitive the issue, the greater the fee requested. Obviously the availability of  the information has not been refused but merely placed behind a stack of impossible to meet conditions formulated for just that purpose.

Tunnel contracts are apparently of such a dodgy nature that perusal by a professional competent person is not encouraged in case glaring Bureaucratic mistakes are uncovered.

Circumstances regarding the closure of roads surrounding the tunnel entry / exits points seem to disadvantages the tunnel operator. Prior knowledge of road closures could upset the constituents and so the ruling political party decides not to tell anyone of their plans.

Road closures to help steer extra traffic into the tunnels is a condition favoured by the builders to increase revenue but the road closures come at the worth of the motorist. Motorist vote, and so their intent at the ballot box cannot be weakened by polling time, that road closures will remain. In 2005 there were 26,663 FOI applications granted and 2,362 refused.

By using the provisions of the FOI Act governments can easily bury sensitive information that may be politically damaging. This is hardly ethical government.........

So much for democracy in Australia and honest and open Government.