The demise of the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2026 is confirmed - this is a great win for transparency and accountability.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher officially dumped the bill in the Senate on 06 March 2026 , saying it was "clear the government didn’t have enough support to pass the legislation in its current form".

The proposed changes to the 1982 FOI Act were introduced to parliament by Attorney-General Michelle Rowland in September last year, swiftly earning criticism from human rights and media freedom organisations (including EFA) for their expansion of request refusal powers for cabinet and government agencies, and the introduction of application and review fees.

EFA lodged a detailed submission opposing the Bill and we briefed key stakeholders in the Senate , sharing our concerns about how the bill, if passed, would have serious negative effects on government transparency and accountability.

At a time when this government has surrendered itself to Big Tech’s “everything AI” siren song, Tranche II of the Privacy Act reform package lies gathering dust in a broom cupboard somewhere in Canberra and the Productivity Commission publicly calling for a weakening of privacy laws in Australia (because “productivity”, brilliant!!), this Government’s FOI Amendment Bill is the opposite of what we need. Australia needs more transparency and accountability from its elected officials and public servants, not less. Our citizens, whistleblowers and investigative journalists require greater privacy protections.

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