Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick says the handling of the case has been a ‘flagrant waste of taxpayers’ money’

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The Australian government has taken just two weeks to back down from a potentially costly legal bid to keep the ex-navy chief’s diary secret from a senator investigating the handling of a multibillion-dollar arms contract.

The handling of the case has been described as a “flagrant waste of taxpayers’ money” and “pointless”, and prompted calls for a departmental secretary to personally foot the legal bill.

The Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick is investigating the circumstances behind the awarding of Australia’s $4bn patrol boat contract to the German shipbuilder Luerssen, over a local company that promised to do the job for less, Austal.

Patrick made a freedom of information request for the diaries of the former navy chief and defence’s head of capability acquisition and sustainment. The defence department initially blocked Patrick’s request because the diaries contained the dates of cabinet meetings, which it argued were exempt on cabinet-in-confidence grounds.

That decision was overturned by the information watchdog, prompting an intervention from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, which took the case to the administrative appeals tribunal (AAT) to prevent the documents’ release.

At the time, Patrick slammed the intervention as an example of “secrecy creep” and warned it could cost taxpayers up to $150,000.

On Friday, roughly two weeks after it launched the case, the prime minister’s department abandoned its AAT appeal.

Court documents show the AAT – with the agreement of both parties – has now affirmed the decision of the information watchdog ordering the release of the documents, save for two variations. The variations state that the documents must not reveal the content of the cabinet deliberations, or personal diary entries.

The information watchdog had already ruled the diaries that Patrick was seeking did not reveal cabinet deliberations.

“I can only imagine what the legal fees are but they are certainly likely to run to thousands and thousands of dollars, plus the $920 AAT application fee,” Patrick told Guardian Australia. “This has been a flagrant waste of taxpayers’ money and I’m of the view that the secretary of PM&C should take responsibility and pay the legal costs himself.”

The department rejected any suggestion that it had abandoned the case or wasted government resources.

A spokeswoman said the department had negotiated with Patrick and reached an agreement to exclude information revealing “what was discussed at cabinet or cabinet committee meetings”.

That’s despite the information watchdog already ruling that the documents contained nothing that would reveal cabinet discussions.

“The department is satisfied that the manner in which this matter was resolved – through quick agreement between the parties on an important legal point – represented an efficient use of Commonwealth resources,” the spokeswoman said.

Patrick said the case was a win for transparency, and meant it would be harder for the government to keep documents secret if they revealed cabinet meeting dates.

“I am writing to PM&C asking them to modify the Cabinet Handbook to remove the erroneous claim that cabinet dates are protected under the cabinet in Confidence doctrine,” Patrick said. “From here on in it should be clear that public is entitled to see how often cabinet and its sub-committees meet.”

The diaries will be released to Patrick on Friday.