Address by Senator John Faulkner
Cabinet Secretary
Special Minister of State
5 May 2009
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. First, let me acknowledge the traditional owners of this land, and pay my respects to their elders past and present.
Let me also acknowledge the Director General of the National Archives, Ross Gibbs, Senator Kate Lundy, Peter Grant, and Professor Ian Hancock from the National Archives Advisory Council, and also the Commonwealth Ombudsman Professor John McMillan, Director of the National Library Jan Fullerton, and Director of Old Parliament House Jenny Anderson.
Ladies and gentlemen, Information Awareness Month, held in May, is a national initiative. This year, events will be held across Australia to promote the broad theme of information diversity. Information Awareness month is supported by a number of information industry and professional bodies including the National Archives of Australia, the Records Management Association of Australasia, and other industry bodies.
This is the third year the National Archives has hosted the launch of Information Month in the ACT, and it is appropriate that the launch of Information Awareness Month is taking place here at the National Archives of Australia.
The National Archives ensures the accountability of Government to current and future generations through its critical role in identifying, managing and preserving information of enduring national significance. It is perhaps ironic that, to preserve our history, the National Archives must stay up-to-date with the present and look always to the future.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have seen rapid technological change in the area of the capture, transfer and storage of digital information. Technological developments have made it easier and cheaper to collect information and compile dossiers on individuals not only for those governments minded to do so but also for businesses who find value or convenience in the collection and use of personal information. Technology also makes data matching and data mining a matter of a few keystrokes.
Income redistribution through taxation and welfare, the provision of education, the pursuit of public health initiatives, the fight against climate change are just a few of the many public policy initiatives that depend on the government's capacity to gain, analyse and deploy information. As the ALRC noted in its recent report, For Your Information, many areas of research have a strong public interest basis, such as health and medical research, sociology and criminology, with a “potential to lead to evidence based policy development and significant positive outcomes for the community.”
In the 21st century, new and emerging technologies, especially the advent of Web 2.0, provide a wide range of ways for Australians to both access government information and engage with government decision-making. This proliferation of new platforms and technologies provides new opportunities. Government information also needs to be developed in standard formats, which enable it to be properly indexed and searchable on-line.
Technological change has brought new possibilities. But it has brought new challenges, too. Chief among those is the need to make the fullest use of these new potentialities without undermining either the right of Australians to information privacy, or the principles of record-keeping and information storage that underpin government accountability.
When entire databases can be saved to a thumb-sized USB drive, emailed across the world, or reduced to bits and bytes in an electronic trash bin with the click of a mouse, the responsibility of government to have strong policy settings and clear principles is great.
And, ladies and gentlemen, the Government is moving to put those policy settings in place.
Recently, I announced the release of an exposure draft of proposed amendments to the FOI Act, including the establishment of an Office of the Information Commissioner. The Government had already introduced legislation to fulfil the first of our commitments in the area of FOI – a bill to remove the power to issue conclusive certificates in the FOI Act (and the Archives Act 1983). The repeal of that power will mean that all decisions by Archives and FOI decision makers to refuse access to documents on the grounds of exemptions will be subject to full independent merits review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT).
Our proposed FOI reform legislation will fulfil the rest of our election commitments. The draft Information Commissioner Bill 2009 and Freedom of Information Amendment (Reform) Bill 2009, have been released for public consultation. They will deliver the first substantial overhaul of the federal Freedom of Information regime since the Act’s inception in 1982.
The legislation will also implement a new Commonwealth Government publication scheme. This publication scheme will require agencies to actively consider the types of information they have which can and should be made available to the public. It will not only encourage, but mandate, agencies to publish what they can lawfully publish – forcing a change of attitude for agencies to think about what they should be publishing rather than what they are obliged to.
In other words, the publication scheme and the Information Commissioner’s role in overseeing and ensuring compliance with it, aim to change the emphasis – from agencies defining their publication of information by what is required, to a culture of openness where information is made available unless it is against the public interest to do so.
Agencies will be required to prepare plans indicating how they will comply with the publication scheme, including the format in which information will be published.
The Government is engaging with interested parties regarding the exposure drafts of the Bill. Consultations include a “round-table” this week, hosted by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Ladies and gentlemen, last week I also wrote to all Commonwealth Department and Agency heads, asking them to play a lead role in our Freedom of Information Reforms.
That letter made it clear that we cannot deliver the openness and transparency so essential to accountability and to a robust democracy, unless FOI decision-makers embrace the FOI reforms.
I also reiterated that not all documents could or should be released under the FOI Act. There will always be some documents which should properly be exempt under FOI.
Ladies and gentlemen, the proposed new objects of the FOI Act recognise the importance to Australia’s democracy of a strong Freedom of Information regime. Our reforms are intended to increase “”public participation in Government processes, leading to better informed decision making”. We believe they will increase “scrutiny, discussion, comment and review of the Government’s activities”. Perhaps most importantly, as the proposed new objects of the Act recognise, our reforms are based on the principle that “information held by the Government is to be managed for public purposes, and is a national resource”.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the principle that underpins the government’s approach to information management.
We know that we face substantial challenges in managing information today and into the future. These challenges stem from the volume of information to be dealt with, particularly in digital forms, the range of formats in which this information is created and accessed, and the diversity of the ICT systems used to manage it. These are challenges before us now and they need to be addressed with a coordinated approach.
Information created in ICT systems needs to be managed from creation to ensure accountability and to protect the legal and financial interests of the Commonwealth. Information also needs to be accessible over time to support business needs. This is just good practice.
But information created in ICT systems also needs to be viewed within the framework of Freedom of Information laws and the principles that guide them. Good information management is about the needs of government agencies, but it is also about the rights of members of the community, both to know that government information is appropriately and securely handled, and to access that information unless there is a clear public interest reason against it.
The Government’s increasing focus on an e-government approach to doing business, and the use of websites and other emerging technologies to communicate and engage with Australians, has contributed to the increase in the volume of information available. It is important that Australian Government agencies manage this information digitally from the time of its creation.
Information management should be seen as integral to the everyday governance framework of Australian Government agencies. To make this happen, we need to ensure that agencies have sound information management capability when making decisions about investment in ICT and assessing their broader business system needs.
The challenge for the National Archives and other key agencies is to work towards some whole-of-government consistency on information collection and storage, to allow smoother information sharing between agencies, and for better access by the public, by business – and by researchers. This would promote both accountability and transparency, and enhance the digital economy.
Key government agencies, especially those for which I have Ministerial responsibility, are already working together to address these challenges. It is important that these partnerships continue into the future. The National Archives is clearly one of these key agencies, reflecting its work in the information management area over a number of years.
Acknowledging directly that better management of records in agencies requires improved management of all information in all formats, including new and emerging technologies, the Archives established its Government Information Management Branch in early 2007. The Branch’s role encompasses the effective and efficient management of government information in today, and for the future.
To support this role, the Archives will have a close involvement with the proposed Office of the Information Commissioner, and will continue its collaborative work with other Government agencies such as the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO), as well as establishing partnerships with the tertiary education sector and the ICT industry to build both individual and agency capability.
Agencies must be capable of moving towards a culture of openness where information is generally made available as a matter of course rather than when explicitly required. More effective, holistic management of information across government is a key to realising this outcome.
In October 2008 assent was given to the Archives Act Amendment Bill 2008. I have asked the Advisory Council of the National Archives to recommend further amendments that might be made to the Act in the light of government information reforms.
The FOI Act and the Archives Act interact in a number of ways – as do the principles that guide freedom of information and the preservation of information. Some of the proposed FOI reforms will change these interconnections, including the new right to apply to the Information Commissioner for external merits review of FOI decisions and the proposal to apply the public interest test to the personal records exemption and business affairs exemption under the FOI Act.
One key change that will directly affect the National Archives is the proposed reduction in the closed access period for all Government records including official records of Cabinet (except for Cabinet notebooks) from 30 years to 20 years, and the reduction of the closed access period for Cabinet notebooks from 50 to 30 years
We recognize that there are genuine resource implications for the National Archives and for other agencies in this transition. So the earlier access will be phased in over a 10 year period, with the first multi-year release commencing on 1 January 2011.
Ladies and gentlemen, these are just a few of the many aspects of information management in the public sector and in Government.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are all aware of being caught up in the headlong rush of technological change affecting the creation, transmission and storage of information. Our challenge is to ensure the processes of government enable us to exploit that change, not only in the interests of efficiency and economy, but also in a way which enhances the quality of the social, cultural and democratic life of our country.
Integrating the processes of government with the expectations and demands of an increasingly educated and technologically savvy community requires a significant cultural shift from all the various players in government.
Information Awareness Month has its part to play in that cultural shift. It is therefore my great pleasure to launch Information Awareness Month this evening.
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