Annual Report: 2004-2005

In this reporting year, four investigations were completed which had received more public notoriety than usual. These four cases involved records held in the offices of ministers and the Prime Minister and prompted the government, over four years, to launch some 29 applications before the Federal and Supreme Courts seeking to stop or restrict the commissioner’s investigations. Those legal challenges were unsuccessful, and their outcome is described in last year’s annual report (2003-04) at pages 9 to 13.

This year, the investigations were completed and their results reported to the government and complainants. All complaints were held to be well-founded by the commissioner and recommendations for further disclosure, better records management and better education of officials were made. The government rejected the recommendations in all cases, and the Information Commissioner will be asking the Federal Court to order these four government institutions to disclose the withheld records at issue.

The commissioner’s report of his findings, in each of these four cases, is extensive – too long to be reproduced here. What follows, then, are brief summaries only. However, the full text of each report forms part, by reference, of this annual report to Parliament.