NSW to review freedom-of-information laws »

NSW’s FoI laws will get an independent review by the state ombudsman after the State Government repeatedly failed to act on recommendations that it conduct one. The laws haven’t had a review since the legislation was written in 1989, despite every state ombudsman since calling for a review.

Mr Barbour did little to hide his irritation with the NSW Government in a release yesterday. “For almost 14 years, each NSW Ombudsman, including myself, has called for an independent and comprehensive review of the FoI Act.”

“In the absence of the NSW Government initiating a review of the act, I have decided to conduct my own independent review.”

Last year’s NSW Ombudsman annual report highlighted the abysmal state of NSW’s freedom-of-information laws. The report found that applications released in full in NSW dropped from 81 per cent in 1995-96 to 52 per cent in 2005-06. This compared with the Commonwealth where 78 per cent of requests were granted in full.