23 November 2009Changing the secretive culture of the public service is a work in progress, writes Mike Stekette in The Australian

IN MARCH then special minister of state John Faulkner released draft legislation for an overhaul of federal freedom of information laws. As much as anything announced since the last election, this signalled a new approach by a new government. It could even qualify for that much overused word in the Rudd lexicon: revolution.

The aim, said Faulkner, was to introduce into the government and public service "a culture of openness where information ought to be made available unless it is against the public interest to do so".

This is as alien to the present bureaucratic mindset as Paris Hilton is to Humphrey Appleby. It overturns decades of practice that embedded the notion that dealing with freedom of information requests means denying as much information as possible.

Under the new bill, Faulkner said a document no longer would be exempt simply because it was attached to a cabinet submission "or happens to make an appearance in the cabinet room", long a standby for documents that ministers or public servants did not want to release...

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