Shafted: The Impact of Corportisation on Freedom of Information in Tasmania

Erik Peacock and Tom Baxter

1994 (Tas) 6 PPL

This paper examines recent amendments to the FOI Act concerning the inclusion of some state owned agencies as being exempt from review. Recent state own agencies that have either been recently privatised or corporatised (such as the Forestry Commission and Works Tasmania) are examined with regard to this new exemption. The effect and consequences of these modifications are discussed, as well as the Government's justification for the changes. The authors submit that the considerable public interest in the behaviour of the corporatised bodies demands that they be subject to FOI, and that the real reason for the changes are found in the government's attitude towards FOI rather than legitimate commercial concerns.