A series of fact-checks to some of the claims that have been made by the Australian Government in relation to parliamentary questions on the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025. The Government’s claims about the Robodebt Royal Commission; the extent of the changes to the Cabinet confidentiality exemption; inundation by AI generated bots linked to foreign actors or criminal gangs; and the seriousness of the national security concerns around freedom of information (FOI) are found to be false or misleading.

Key findings

• It is false to say that the Robodebt Royal Commission did not find that cabinet processes were the problem.
• It is false to say that the changes to the Cabinet exemption simply clarify the operation of the existing exemption.
• It is misleading to claim that the amendments will address the concerns raised in the Robodebt Royal Commission.
• The Government has at no stage produced any evidence of an ‘inundation’ of anonymous requests generated by AI bots, linked to foreign actors, foreign powers or criminal gangs.
• There is no publicly available evidence that the FOI Act is currently being used by foreign actors or in a way such that the national security services have proactively raised concerns.