Australia's freedom of information regime has grown significantly more costly and less transparent over the past decade, according to a damning analysis of official data. The system, designed to give citizens access to government documents, now charges taxpayers nearly double for a fraction of the openness.
Soaring Costs, Shrinking Transparency
A Canberra Times investigation into FOI trends from the 2014-15 financial year to 2024-25 paints a stark picture. The estimated total cost to process requests across all government agencies ballooned from $40 million to a record $97.9 million – an increase of 145 per cent.
This dramatic rise in expenditure occurred while the number of requests grew by a comparatively modest 22 per cent, from 35,550 to 43,456. More alarming is what this money has bought: a steep decline in the release of information.
Where once receiving a document in full was common, it has now become the exception. In the 2020-21 period, more than 40 per cent of applicants received everything they asked for. By 2024-25, that figure had collapsed to barely 20 per cent.
Agencies Retreat from Openness
The raw numbers reveal the scale of the retreat. The total number of files released in full has effectively halved from approximately 11,000 to just 5,400, even as the system's price tag doubled.
Key agencies have led this charge towards greater secrecy. The Department of Defence saw its rate of granting full access plummet from around 20 per cent to just 3 per cent over four years.
Perhaps most strikingly, the Department of Veterans' Affairs, once hailed as a leader in transparency, witnessed its full release rate crash from 78 per cent to about 9 per cent in just five years.
Services Australia, which administers Centrelink and other welfare payments, also drastically reduced disclosures. The proportion of requests it decided to release in full more than halved, falling from nearly a quarter to just 10.3 per cent.
These figures, sourced from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, only cover formal decisions. They do not account for the thousands of requests that are withdrawn or abandoned, potentially masking an even larger volume of failed attempts to access public documents.
Failed Reforms and a Call for Modernisation
The ballooning costs and collapsing transparency formed the backdrop for the Albanese government's unsuccessful attempt to overhaul the Freedom of Information Act in 2025. Labelling the system "broken" and "stuck in the 1980s", the government proposed legislation to cap processing times and introduce mandatory application fees – a move critics branded a "truth tax".
The proposed reforms were defeated in the Senate when the Coalition joined crossbench senators in opposition. ACT independent senator David Pocock labelled the failed bill "dangerous" and said it encouraged secrecy.
Senator Pocock argued that technology, including artificial intelligence, offered a better path forward. "Freedom of information requests is surely one area of government that is ripe for using AI safely to slash costs and boost the release of information Australians have a legitimate right to access," he said.
Shadow Attorney-General Andrew Wallace called the proposed reforms "manifestly defective", arguing they would "expand secrecy". Independent senator Jacqui Lambie captured the disappointment of transparency advocates, referencing the Prime Minister's 2019 pledge to end the "culture of secrecy" with a pointed question: "We want the old Anthony Albanese?"
Senator Pocock said the current data was alarming. "Taxpayers deserve a far better return on their investment in the system," he stated. "It is alarming to see rates of full access to documents falling off a cliff in recent years while costs skyrocket."
A spokesperson for Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said the government remained committed to passing key FOI reforms, maintaining that the existing system is inefficient and costly. The analysis, however, suggests that without a genuine commitment to openness, more money will continue to buy less transparency for the Australian public.
