FOI Act Secrecy Provisions Amendments

Written by Claude Haiku 4.5 from the extracted text on 28 Feb 2026. It can miss or misread redacted and scanned pages. Check the source before relying on it.

Treasury officials discussed prospective Freedom of Information Act reforms during July 2025, specifically seeking to expand exemptions for information protected under secrecy provisions. The Foreign Investment Division proposed making Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act (FATA) protected information exempt from FOI disclosure by adding to schedules listing information subject to secrecy provisions. Officials from the Frameworks Branch, Legal Division, and related teams coordinated to engage with the Attorney-General's Department on legislative reform work. Email exchanges indicate Treasury wanted to use the FOI reform process to tighten protections around treasury-protected information, framing this as achieving "the original intent of the provisions." Substantive details of the proposed amendments and specific policy rationale are heavily redacted under cabinet privilege, limiting visibility into the scope and justification for the recommended exemption expansions.