Former senator Rex Patrick has lost his Federal Court challenge to lengthy freedom-of-information request delays.
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Mr Patrick took the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) to court over delayed reviews of FOI decisions. The former independent senator sought a judicial declaration on what constitutes a "reasonable" timeframe for such reviews.
The court found on Friday while there are "very significant delays" in processing FOI reviews at the OAIC, these delays were not legally unreasonable given the Commissioner's "unquestionable shortage of resources".
In his judgement, Justice Michael Wheelahan said it is up to the federal government to provide the OAIC with appropriate funding to "enable the discharge of the Commissioner's statutory functions".
Mr Patrick said he was "naturally disappointed in the outcome", and called on the government to adequately support the Commissioner.
"The court recognised, on the submissions and evidence, that the FOI system is completely broken, but says that the fix must come from the Parliament, not the court," he said.
"The Parliament must take notice."
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The OAIC is swamped with FOI requests.
There are 957 reviews with the OAIC that are over 12- months old, including 60 that are four or more years old, research from the Australia Institute found in March.
Mr Patrick said he had more than 20 contested FOI applications with the OAIC for review, some of which have been waiting for a decision for more than three years.
The former independent senator said Friday's outcome was "bad news" for those trying to access government information and hold public officials to account.
"Conversely, it's great news for ministers and officials who want to bury information in an [Information Commissioner] review for five years, knowing that when the review is finalised the results will be of historical use only."
Isabelle Reinecke, Executive Director of the Grata Fund - a non-profit advocacy organisation that supported the case - said Friday's court decision should be "an enormous catalyst for the government".
"By anyone's measure, multiple-year delays are unacceptable, and now the ball is in the government's court to ensure its public commitments to the democratic operation of the government are put into effect."
In March, then-information commissioner Leo Hardiman resigned after less than one year in the role, citing a lack of power to reform the backlogged system.
The Greens, Coalition and crossbench teamed up that same month to establish an inquiry into Australia's FOI system, including looking into Mr Hardiman's resignation.