Freedom of Information: Imposing fees on requests would be ‘blunt instrument’, campaigners say
![[Image: www.eastgippsland.net.au]](https://voxpoliticalonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/FOI-cant-have.jpg)
[Image: www.eastgippsland.net.au]
Imposing fees on Freedom of Information requests would be “an extremely blunt instrument” that would limit access to justice, human rights campaigners have said.
Leading charity Liberty said it had used the act to expose injustices including discrimination under police stop and search rules and said that any reforms that downgraded Freedom of Information powers would be a “retrograde step”.
An independent commission was set up by the Government last year to review use of the Act, amid concerns around the protection of ‘sensitive’ information and warnings from public authorities that ‘vexatious’ FOI requests are inflicting a heavy time and cost burden.
However, giving evidence to the commission, Sam Hawke, an FOI specialist at Liberty, said the Act had in fact saved money by highlighting inappropriate uses of public money.
“Discussion of burden is inappropriate,” he said. “This is simply what a Government pays for, to remain open, transparent and accountable, and it’s a very, very small cost overall.
“In an area of real public importance and an era of retrenchment in access to justice through changes to legal aid, any further attempts to impose fees [or] widen exceptions would be an even more retrograde step in providing access to justice.”
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
no changes to FOI. Theyre not necessary to dissuade ‘ vexatious’ claims.
If as Camoron promised he would deliver transparent government then there would be no need to fish out cover ups,fraud, greed and incompetent people and decisions etc. This openess of course will never happen and FoI is the only way of bringing this out into the open and public scrutiny and trying to impose punative charges to make enquiries uneconomic or reduce the humiliation of being found out is not the way to go.