Did not passDemocracy & Government Introduced in the House of Representatives, 03 Sep 2025

Senate dropped plan to bring back FOI fees

The government's big shake-up of freedom of information, the system for asking for government papers, would have changed how anyone asks for government papers. It passed the House of Representatives, Parliament's lower house, in November 2025 after strong attacks. Then it was dropped in the Senate in March 2026.

Official name: Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025

Who it affects

• Journalists, researchers and campaigners: They could face fees, a 40-hour work limit and more secret papers.
• People asking for their own records: They would pay no fee. They would need to give their full name and might need to prove who they are.
• Whistleblowers and people who fear payback: Whistleblowers are people who report wrongdoing. They could no longer use a fake name or hide who they are.
• Public servants: Public servants are people who work for the government. Their names and details would most often be left out of papers that get released.
• Government agencies and ministers: They would get new powers to say no to some requests, and more time to reply.

34,706 FOI requests a year

Freedom of information is your legal right to ask the federal government for its papers. The Freedom of Information Act 1982 sets the rules.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner watches over the system. It looks again at the case when an agency refuses to hand over papers. This is called a review by the Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner is the independent official who runs that office.

The Parliamentary Library works for all MPs and takes no side. Its guide to the bill says 34,706 requests were made in 2023 to 2024.

The Attorney-General, Michelle Rowland, is the minister for the law. She said public servants spent more than a million hours on these requests. She said that cost $86.2 million. She blamed technology that makes it easy to send huge numbers of nasty or silly requests.

The bill acts on some ideas from a 2013 review by Dr Allan Hawke, called the Hawke Review. The government back then never gave a formal answer to that review.

What FOI is for

The freedom of information law starts with a list of its goals. The bill added a new goal. The right to see papers must be weighed against keeping private and business details safe. It must also be weighed against government working properly. The bill also said agencies should put more facts out without being asked.

A paper would only count as an agency's paper if it is about the agency's work. Say a public servant sends a note to family on a work email. That would be left out.

Real names required

Today you can ask for papers under a made-up name. The bill said you must give your full name. If you ask for someone else, you would have to say so and give their full name.

Say you ask for your personal details, or facts about your own business. Then you would need to prove who you are. Agencies could also ask for proof in other cases, such as when they doubt who you are.

The government says this stops banned people getting around the rules. It says it keeps personal details safe. It also says it guards against people overseas who want facts to do harm.

Refusing harmful requests

Agencies and ministers could say no to a request made to annoy, or with no real point. They could say no to requests likely to bully, scare or harm someone. They could also say no to requests that misuse the system.

The government's notes on the bill say misuse could include a campaign to get in the way of government work. You would get written reasons. You could ask the Information Commissioner to look at the refusal.

Public servants' names hidden

Names and other details that show who staff are would most often be left out. This covers letters about requests and papers that get released. It covers staff, contractors and consultants, with some exceptions.

The government says naming staff can lead to abuse and bullying. It can also lead to doxxing, which means putting someone's private details online. It says junior public servants often carry out decisions that are not their own.

A 40-hour work limit

Agencies can already say no to a request that would take too much work. The bill added a clearer test, a cap of 40 hours.

If a request would likely take more than 40 hours to handle, the agency could say no. The government says 40 hours is just over a week of full-time work. The government could set a higher cap in its own detailed rules, without a new vote.

Say you ask for every email about a road project over five years. If finding and checking them would take 60 hours, the agency could say no. You could ask the Information Commissioner to look at that refusal. If the Commissioner sent it back, the agency could not say no for the same reason again.

Application fees

Fees to ask for papers were scrapped in 2010. The bill let the government bring them back through its own detailed rules. Fees could apply to new requests. They could apply when you ask the agency to look at its own decision again. They could also apply to reviews by the Information Commissioner.

No fee could be charged when you ask for your own personal details. The Attorney-General said these were 72 per cent of requests in 2023 to 2024. The rules would have to let people who are short of money off the fee.

The bill did not set the amount. The Library's guide says other states and territories charge fees, of $30 to $58. The one that does not is the Australian Capital Territory.

More Cabinet paper secrecy

Cabinet is the group of senior ministers who make the government's biggest decisions. Cabinet papers can already be kept secret.

Right now a paper must be made mainly for Cabinet to be kept secret. The bill changed the test. A paper would count if a big part of its purpose was to go to Cabinet.

It added papers made to brief a minister on things Cabinet will look at. It also covered anything that sums up a Cabinet paper or could show what Cabinet talked about.

The government says this matches how Cabinet papers are really made. A Royal Commission is a top-level public investigation. Robodebt was a failed government scheme that sent wrong debt notices to people on welfare. The Royal Commission into it had said Cabinet papers should lose this special secrecy. The government said no to that idea.

Policy advice and quick refusals

Some papers show how the government thinks through a decision. They can be held back if handing them over would be bad for the public.

The bill listed reasons that count against handing them over. One is harm to honest advice. Another is harm to honest talk among officials. A third is harm to how the government makes decisions in good order.

Agencies could also say no without searching, if a request is clearly asking only for papers that can be kept secret. The government's example is a request for all Cabinet decisions not yet made public.

Reviews and time limits

Time limits would be counted in working days. That leaves out weekends, Australian Capital Territory public holidays and 25 December to 1 January. Agencies and the people asking could agree to more time, with no 30-day cap.

If an agency misses its deadline, the request counts as refused. The bill said the agency must still go on and make a real decision.

You could not ask the agency and the Information Commissioner to look again at the same time. Agencies could pass a request to another agency when the topic is closer to that agency's work.

Agencies, ministers and the Information Commissioner's office could set how requests must be sent by email or online. They would still have to help people apply.

Information Commissioner changes

The Commissioner could send a case back to the agency to think again partway through a review, if the agency agreed. The person who asked would not need to agree.

A review could end when both sides agree, without a formal written decision. Other people touched by the papers would no longer be part of a review by default. They could still ask to join.

More junior staff in the Commissioner's office could decide not to look into a complaint. Only senior officials could send notices that force people to hand over papers or answer questions.

When a minister leaves

A 2024 case in the Federal Court, a national court, was brought against former Senator Rex Patrick. It raised a question. What happens to a request when a minister leaves the job?

The bill let a minister who is leaving pass open requests to another minister or agency. If they did not, the request would go to a set agency. Some rights to a review would end once the minister left.

A request to fix your personal records would be dropped. You would need to apply again.

Foreign investment secrets protected

Some secret facts are gathered under the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975. That law checks when people overseas buy Australian land or companies. These would be added to the list of papers kept safe by other secrecy laws. The Attorney-General could also make short-term rules to help the changes get started.

Planned start

Most of the changes would have started on a date set by the government. That date had to be within 12 months of the bill being signed into law by the Governor-General, who stands in for the King.

The change about overseas buyers and the power to make short-term rules would have started the day after it was signed.

The government's notes say the changes should save the federal government a small amount of money overall. They give no dollar figure.

Taken off the Senate list

The government brought the bill into the House of Representatives on 3 September 2025. After debate, the House agreed to two changes from the government. It passed the bill on 6 November 2025.

The bill went into the Senate, Parliament's second house, on 24 November 2025. A group of senators had been asked to look into it. On 5 March 2026 the bill was taken off the Senate's to-do list. That means it was dropped.

The bill will not become law in this form.

How they voted

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum
• Bills Digest

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