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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 11 Hansard (6 November) . . Page.. 3747 ..
(CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS) BILL 1997
Debate resumed from 4 September 1997, on motion by Mr Kaine:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Bill, by leave, taken as a whole
MR WHITECROSS (4.11): Mr Speaker, I seek leave to move together the two amendments circulated in my name. They relate to the Schedule to the Bill.
Leave granted.
MR WHITECROSS: I move:
Schedule -
Page 3, lines 3 to 21, proposed amendments to the Freedom of Information Act 1989, omit the proposed amendments.
Page 4, lines 8 to 18, proposed amendments to the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1994, omit the proposed amendments.
The amendments relate to the exemptions specified in the Schedule in relation to the FOI Act and the Public Interest Disclosure Act. The argument that has been advanced in relation to the FOI Act seems to go as follows: In the first place, everybody else has exempted their instrumentalities from their FOI Acts; so, we should too. The second argument is: We think it is all covered by the commercial-in-confidence provisions of the FOI Act; but, just to be safe, let us exempt it anyway.
It seems to me that, while the FOI Act makes generous provision for exemptions from the provisions of the Act for instrumentalities engaged in competitive markets, the need for a blanket exemption is not really justified. The retention of coverage from the FOI Act, as would occur if my amendment were passed, means that, if there are non-commercial issues in relation to ACTEW's participation as a agent of NEMMCO or NECA, then those non-commercial matters could be the subject of FOI. Given that ACTEW is publicly owned, owned by the people of the ACT, I think it is appropriate that, where possible, the FOI Act should apply. I reiterate that there is no sense in which
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