The Labor government abandoned its controversial changes to the freedom of information request system, which would have imposed new fees and further reduced transparency, after admitting it had no path to passage through parliament.
But despite the major setback, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher says the Albanian government is still committed to reforming the freedom of information system and criticizes that public servants have to spend too much time responding to government information and decision-making requests.
The government’s changes to the FoI system would have imposed stricter rules for access to information, including new grounds for rejecting requests based on cabinet confidentiality, a ban on anonymous requests, and rules to discourage what the government characterized as “vexatious and frivolous” requests. Labor had complained that artificial intelligence had allowed mass requests to flood FoI systems and paralyze government departments, but the government never provided substantial evidence for such claims.
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An employee at a government office expressed concern that an email every five minutes could “jam something” in their system.
Labor’s proposal would also have implemented new positions for journalists, politicians and other experts seeking access to government information. Similar charges at the state and territory level can be around $50 each.
But after Guardian Australia reported that the Coalition was set to vote against the bill when it returned to the Senate on Thursday, the government decided to remove its own plan from the parliamentary programme.
Gallagher told the Senate on Thursday morning that the government recognized the bill did not have the support of parliament and would not pass. As he spoke, a member of the Coalition benches chimed in “well done”, while others shouted “listen, listen”.
But the minister said that while the current bill would be withdrawn, the government was still planning to make changes to the FoI system, pointing to a new form of bill in the future to fix what she called an “unworkable” system “stuck in the 1980s”. It claimed that 43,000 freedom of information requests had cost the government almost $100 million in processing time over the last financial year and more than 1 million human hours, and alleged that government employees faced security risks due to the current system.
“We have an open mind and will continue to work on the final form of the important reforms that we will bring back to parliament, to continue to fix the freedom of information system which I think we all agree needs updating,” Gallagher said.
The minister did not say what the next version of the bill would look like, but said it would make the system more “efficient”.
Attorney General Michelle Rowland has been contacted for comment.
Senate opposition leader and shadow attorney general Michaelia Cash called the government’s withdrawal “a victory for democracy.” He agreed that changes needed to be made to the freedom of information system, but called for reforms to address “delays, delays and bad faith behaviour”.
An FoI investigation in 2023 described the system as “dysfunctional and broken” due to years of funding cuts, a “lack of consequences” and a lack of senior “champions” for disclosure across the public service. In 2025, the Center for Public Integrity accused Albanese’s government of having a worse record than Scott Morrison’s Coalition in producing documents for public scrutiny.
“Every day in this chamber, whether in this place or another, what we see is the erosion of democracy… forget about transparency, they are closing the door every chance they get,” Cash said.
In a statement, Cash said the withdrawal “humiliated” the government.
“This bill did not have a single friend outside the public service. It was opposed by the Coalition, every other party and representative, every major media organisation, every integrity body and civil society groups across the country,” he said.
“Freedom of information is not a privilege granted by the government at its discretion. It is a democratic safeguard, the mechanism through which citizens hold power to account. This government tried to remove that safeguard and was stopped.
“The freedom of information framework needs to be reviewed, but in the right way, not in the secret Labor Party way.”
Greens senator David Shoebridge said Labour’s changes would have made the FoI system slower, more expensive and more secretive.
“This bill was drafted by a government full of arrogance and addiction to secrecy. This bill had no friends inside or outside parliament and the Labor Party has finally recognized that,” he said.
“Labour’s attack was never about fixing freedom of information for the public, but rather making it harder to see what the government was doing.
“The problem with FOI is not that the public gets too much information, but that the government spends a million hours of bureaucrats’ time each year rejecting and writing requests.”
Rex Patrick, a former senator who now runs a consultancy firm focused on government accountability, and Kieran Pender of the Human Rights Law Centre, said Labor should now take the opportunity to undertake a comprehensive review of the freedom of information system to improve transparency.
“Now is the time for real reform, through an independent process. If Labor cares about transparency, now is the time to show it,” Patrick said.
“People have a right to know what governments are doing. Freedom of information is vital for a healthy, transparent and accountable democracy,” Pender added.
