MEDIA RELEASE 27 November 2025
Shadow Attorney-General and Federal Member for Fisher, Andrew Wallace MP, says the Albanese Government has suffered a humiliating retreat on its appalling Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025, after the legislation vanished from the Parliament’s agenda without explanation this week.
Mr Wallace said Labor had gone to ground because the Bill had “no friends, no public support and no credible defence”, with every major stakeholder, including the Law Council, transparency groups, media organisations, civil society and even the Greens, rejecting it outright.
“This was Labor’s signature ‘transparency’ reform. Now it has been quietly buried because Australians saw it for what it was: a truth tax designed to make government secrecy easier and accountability and transparency harder,” Mr Wallace said.
“They tried to ram it through the House earlier this month, shutting down debate and refusing to answer a single one of my fifteen questions during a detailed examination of the Bill. Now they’ve fled the field because they know the Bill is toxic.” Mr Wallace added.
“Labor talked a big game on integrity, but when their own transparency laws collapsed under scrutiny, they simply pulled the pin. It is a backflip dressed up as silence and another reminder that this Government hides whenever the heat is on.”
Mr Wallace said the Bill’s disappearance was a win for all Australians who want to see transparency in government.
“This legislation was friendless for a reason. It would have expanded Cabinet secrecy, allowed agencies to toss out requests they didn’t like, and imposed new costs on Australians who just want to know what their own government is up to. Every transparency expert warned Labor to abandon this path. Instead of listening, they doubled down, buried debate, and governed in the shadows. Now they’ve been forced into retreat.”
Mr Wallace said the Coalition would continue to fight for a modern, independent review of the FOI system, not a power grab that weakens public trust.
“This whole saga has stripped away Labor’s façade of integrity. They promised sunlight and delivered secrecy. They promised accountability and delivered avoidance. Now, their FOI Bill has failed because Australians will not tolerate a government that hides from the people it serves.”
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Media Contact: Brendan West – 0402 556 646 – Brendan.west@aph.gov.au
