Secrecy clauses have the potential to undermine the very object of FOI legislation. This survey of Tasmanian legislation was conducted firstly to determine the extent to which there is a proliferation of secrecy clauses used to deny access to information under FOI. The results indicate that there is a large number of secrecy clauses in Tasmanian Acts, but that many of them appear to be inoperable under the s 36 exemption.Secondly, the researchers examined to what extent the secrecy clauses which are operable under the FOI Act are relied on to deny access to information compared with other exemptions. The findings suggest that some government departments and authorities rely heavily on secrecy clauses to restrict access while others make no use of them at all. Finally the effect of the sunset clause regarding the secrecy exemption is analysed, in light of the fact that secrecy clauses are continuing to be introduced into legislation.