Freedom of Information Amendment (Freedom of Information Commissioner) Bill 2011

Mr SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) -- It is my pleasure to rise to speak on the Freedom of Information Amendment (Freedom of Information Commissioner) Bill 2011. This is a very important bill which aims to restore accountability, transparency and integrity to government -- something that unfortunately was sadly missing in the 11 years under Labor. This bill delivers on our election commitment, and these reforms represent some of the most significant reforms to Victorian freedom of information law in 30 years.

Firstly I want to focus on our election commitment and the coalition agenda to restore integrity to government. This bill is part of a comprehensive reform agenda of the coalition to restore integrity to government. We have already introduced a number of bills, and we are already moving forward to ensure that the public has its confidence restored in the government of the day.

The package so far has included legislation to introduce the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission, which the previous Labor government stonewalled on despite years of debate and the obvious need.

We have also established the Public Interest Monitor, which is independent of government and the law, to ensure that the community is protected from inappropriate incursions into civil rights and liberties. We have released a tough fundraising code which ends Labor's cash-for-access fundraising in Victoria. These are sweeping reforms of practices that apply to government MPs and senior staff.

We have also reformed the lobbyist code of conduct to include tough new guidelines for former ministers, parliamentary secretaries and former staff of lobbyists in similar positions.

We have tightened the rules of Parliament to ensure that we keep up the standards of integrity in this house that the Victorian public expect so we can get on with the job and focus on the business of the day. We are continuing the job with a comprehensive suite of reform agendas to restore this integrity by introducing the Freedom of Information Amendment (Freedom of Information Commissioner) Bill 2011 that we have in front of us today.

The bill will establish an independent commissioner who will be appointed by the Governor in Council and report to a new joint committee of Parliament to ensure accountability and oversight. The commissioner will be an independent executive arm of government, supported by an independent office. The commissioner will have a number of key functions, which include reviewing decisions of Victorian public sector agencies and replacing substantially the first-stage reviews currently conducted by internal agencies.

This is really important because the current practice means that you potentially have one person looking at an FOI request and not allowing it to proceed and an appeal taking place where the person sitting right beside them, superior to them, is looking at the same FOI request and also rejecting it.

This allows an independent umpire to examine the FOI request and ensure that the proper information is provided and the proper process takes its course. It also allows compliance with professional standards, education guidelines and most importantly reporting annually to Parliament about the administration of the FOI act. The commissioner will provide significant structural reform. This will become the key oversight for Victoria's FOI system and ensure responsibility for the Ombudsman's jurisdiction in FOI.

I have got to say that we have heard a lot of drivel tonight from the opposition, and if we can call something stretching the truth, we have certainly heard some stretching of the truth tonight in the opposition's comments. When the now opposition left office it had an appalling record on FOI. There were more than 300 FOI cases in the courts, which was the largest number in the history of Victoria. That is because under Labor hundreds of FOI requests were blocked, rejected or never answered.

I refer the opposition to one of its colleagues in the federal Parliament, the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth, Peter Garrett, whose band Midnight Oil released a song in 1983 called Short Memory. He was certainly right on the mark with that song because over in the opposition trenches we have lots of short memories about the lack of transparency and accountability by the former government, whose members are now sitting very kindly and nicely in the opposition trenches.

I would like to comment in particular about the stunning turnaround from the member for Altona tonight. For 11 years Labor did nothing to improve the FOI regime in this state. Now apparently it is time to act, but only off the back of this government's move to introduce greater openness and transparency. Labor had 11 years to do something about FOI, but for 11 years it blocked, it ducked, it weaved and it did absolutely nothing. Suddenly Victorians are meant to trust that the opposition has changed its ways and is standing up for Victorians. We know that Victorians know better, that the current government is the one to deliver significant reform and that Labor is the party of secrecy and doing nothing -- hide, duck, weave, and certainly not deliver when it comes to transparency and accountability.

It was a wonder that the member for Altona could keep a straight face while delivering that laundry list of absolute lies and drivel about this bill, especially since her only research seems to have been a couple of newspaper articles that were certainly drawn from her own press releases, so you have got to wonder about where the information is coming from.

So far the debate from the opposition has been irrelevant, incorrect and a potted history lesson about past practice. Again the member for Altona unashamedly absolved her own party of all blame for trashing the FOI regime but, worse than that, on the one hand the opposition purports to be the great defender of public servants in Victoria and on the other the member for Altona walks in here and smears hardworking public servants from the Department of Justice, implying that they are not working hard enough to do her bidding.

On the one hand she says that some commercial arrangements must remain confidential, but on the other she objects to matters being deemed commercial in confidence, but that is okay. Clearly the member would prefer Victoria just to shut up shop. Clearly she would prefer it if Victoria simply failed to adhere to standard commercial practice that we have in the other states. The member for Altona had the absolute nerve and audacity to come in here and say that the establishment of the office of FOI commissioner is not going far enough, that this government is not delivering and that government members are not working to ensure that we deliver accountability and transparency. Her party had the opportunity, but it missed the boat.

The Labor Party is the party that brought us the usual and expected accusation of FOI subversion, and now we see its members' ludicrous attempts to paint their party as the party of transparency and accountability, but we know that is not the case.

This government has a clear agenda to deliver a government, a process and a system so that people feel safe and believe the government they have elected is accountable and transparent. That is the platform on which this government went to the election. We went to the election with a clear commitment to do that, and that is what we are delivering on.

This legislation is very clear. It delivers a whole range of broad and sweeping reforms. As I said earlier, the bill is part of an overall suite of election reforms to ensure that integrity is restored to government. Government members are working hard to deliver for Victorians, to fix the mess that we were left with after 11 years of Labor and to ensure that the Victorian public once again has confidence in the government it elected. We will ensure that we will get on and deliver, and we will ensure that the state of Victoria is the greatest state in Australia -- a state that we can be proud to live in.

We will ensure that Victoria has a great government that believes in integrity, accountability and responsible government. I commend this bill to the house.