This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Labor has called for the prime minister, Scott Morrison, to investigate allegations that his department repeatedly broke laws to stymy the release of sensitive documents, while crossbenchers announce a renewed push to overhaul Australia’s freedom of information system.

Guardian Australia revealed on Wednesday that a freedom of information officer complained of “systemic” unlawful conduct within the department of prime minister and cabinet, which he alleged delayed the release of politically-sensitive documents.

FOI and transparency experts, the crossbench senator Rex Patrick, Labor and the Greens have all expressed serious concern about the report. The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said the allegations, if true, were “extremely concerning”.

“Ever since he became a minister, Mr Morrison has evaded scrutiny. That attitude now infects the whole of his government,” Dreyfus told Guardian Australia.

Whistleblower hits out at PM's department over 'pervasive and toxic' disregard for law Read more

“As these allegations concern the Prime Minister’s own department, he must investigate the matter. The coalition government has shown contempt for FOI in the past six years – it’s time for this to change.”

The whistleblower’s complaint, made in late 2017, was investigated and treated seriously by the department. The final report found five cases where FOI laws had been breached, due to inexplicable and lengthy delays. The whistleblower has submitted an individual complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), which is being considered.

Peter Timmins, a leading FOI specialist, former diplomat, and lawyer, said the matter warranted a more comprehensive investigation by the OAIC, but expressed doubts about whether that would take place.

“The record isn’t encouraging,” Timmins said. “The watchdog has undertaken only two own motion investigations into an agency’s actions in performing functions or exercising powers under the FOI Act since the office was established in 2012. The most recent investigative report was published in 2014.”

The last significant review of the FOI system in Australia was in 2013. Allan Hawke, the distinguished public servant who led the review, made 40 recommendations to improve the system. The government never responded to the report.

Timmins said this had left the current legislation out of date.

“Our laws are outdated, implementation, to be kind, is patchy, and the watchdog is under resourced and lacks clout,” he said.

“The agenda for a government intent on addressing the serious decline in public trust is clear. All that is needed is recognition that excessive secrecy and lack of transparency are part of the problem.”

Patrick, the Centre Alliance senator, said the whistleblower’s allegations show “just how utterly broken the system has become”. Patrick is a regular user of FOI and frequently takes cases to the administrative appeals tribunal or information commissioner.

“These disclosures of shameful administrative malpractice and obstruction come as no great surprise for anyone – journalists, MPs or members of the public – seeking to use FOI to inform themselves on the workings of government,” he said.

“A decade ago Labor senator John Faulkner made a genuine effort to reform the Australian government’s FOI regime, but those efforts now lie in ruins with ministers, departments and agencies largely free to redact, impede, obstruct and deny without penalty.”

He said the delay and obstruction alleged against the department was common across the public service, particularly the defence department. He likened the process of getting records from defence as akin to “pulling teeth from a hippopotamus”.

Patrick said Labor had only paid lip service to openness and transparency, while doing little to actually push for genuine reform of FOI. He noted Labor had sided with the government to reject his 2018 bill to radically overhaul the FOI system.

“Centre Alliance will be using its position in the new Senate to press both the Government and the Opposition to re-engage positively for real FOI reform,” he said.

“This is a broken system that must be fixed.”

Like Patrick, the Greens have also pledged to fight for FOI reform to address the overuse of exemptions, redactions and delays. The Greens’ democracy spokeswoman, Larissa Waters, said the party would raise the whistleblower’s complaint in Senate estimates.

“Sunlight is the best disinfectant especially when it comes to politicians’ entitlements, conflicts of interest and internal reviews,” Waters said. “The Greens will continue to push for transparency in our democracy, and for FOI to be fast, cheap, not riddled with exemptions and not redacted beyond all utility.”

Transparency International Australia warned the FOI system was an essential anti-corruption measure. But its chief executive, Serena Lillywhite, said the whistleblower’s complaint suggested the system was failing.

“We have to ask why and shine a spotlight on the blockages,” Lillywhite said.

“A well-functioning FOI process can help drive a shift from a culture of secrecy to that of open government, in which everyone has a stake.”

The group has previously expressed concern about the growth of FOI rejections and continuing delays in decision-making, and called for greater resourcing for FOI teams in government.

“We have long been concerned that after constant budget cuts to public service agencies they don’t have the resources they need to handle FOI requests in a timely and appropriate way.”