Secrecy Provisions

Aidan McElduff

1994 (Tas) 5 PPL

This paper investigated secrecy clauses which may be used to deny access to information by virtue of s 36 of the FOI Act. The first section of the paper examines the circumstances in which a secrecy provision may be used under s 36 to deny information. Utilising recent Ombudsman findings, case law relating to Commonwealth secrecy provisions and findings of the Queensland Law Reform Commission, a review was conducted of specific secrecy clauses to ascertain whether they are justifiably protected under s 36. The second half of the report examines certain 1994 Acts, Amendments and Statutory Rules in an attempt to ascertain both whether the implementation of secrecy clauses had occurred and secondly whether they also were protected under s 36. The author reaches the conclusion that from the 17 secrecy provisions reviewed, 10 did not meet the criteria for secrecy for the purposes of s 36.