‘Good riddance to that rubbish’: Labor abandons friendless FOI reforms

Labor has abandoned its push to restrict access to government documents in a rare defeat that came at the hands of an increasingly emboldened Coalition and crossbench, who have repeatedly teamed up in the Senate to block the government in the name of transparency.

The changes would have increased costs for freedom of information requests, banned anonymous submissions and limited access even further. After extensive campaigns against what was described as greater government secrecy, the bill was abandoned in a motion put forward by Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher.

She flagged that the reforms would be reworked and returned to the parliament.

“The government is taking this step because we understand that it does not have the support of the Senate, and it will not pass the Senate in its current form, but this is an important reform, and the government does remain committed to it,” Gallagher told the chamber at the commencement of a 30-minute debate on the bill being discharged.

“Freedom of information is a vital feature of our democracy, but the way the FOI system is working now is unworkable. The current framework is stuck in the 1980s, before smartphones, before artificial intelligence and our laws genuinely need to be updated.”

The move to abandon the bill came as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese held a high-level meeting at Parliament House in Canberra with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. As Gallagher rose to move the motion, jeers were heard from the opposition benches, with Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie calling out: “Good riddance to that rubbish.”

Introduced into the House of Representatives in September 2025, the bill faced staunch criticism from non-government MPs and transparency experts who argued the reforms – including the creation of a fee to access government documents – were part of a broader move towards secrecy from the Albanese government.

Leader of the opposition in the Senate, Michaelia Cash, emphatically supported the bill’s abandonment, telling the chamber: “What a win for democracy. What a win for transparency. But more than that, what a win for the Australian people. Because the government is today admitting the bill they brought before the Senate was going to silence Australians. What an absolute disgrace.”

Greens senator David Shoebridge celebrated the bill’s removal to “the dust bin”.

Dr Catherine Williams, executive director of the Centre for Public Integrity, said the move was “a credit to the parliament” and maintained her call for a comprehensive review of the FOI system.

In the first term of the Albanese government, more FOIs were refused than granted, and Labor has come under repeated criticism for slashing staffing levels of political opponents and cutting the number of questions the opposition has been allocated during question time.

The Coalition and crossbench have teamed up since the May 2025 election to pressure Labor into releasing the Briggs report into “jobs for mates” appointments, and have been waging an ongoing campaign on the production of government documents, which Labor has labelled a “fishing expedition”.

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