STOP
PRESS
By email has arrived a rather testy letter
dated 20 March 2015 from the Department’s inimitable humorist Brad Jolly.
Headed ‘Notice of Estimate of Charges’, the
letter informs me that the total cost of providing copies of the documents I
requested through FOI would be—wait for it—$5,325. It also demands a deposit of $1331, payable
within 30 days.
I shall forward the letter to the FOI
Commissioner. It may be a sly dodge to warn
me off, keep the truth firmly under wraps and save Mr Jolly and his colleagues
from exposure and embarrassment. Or it may simply reflect the high cost of
information as a commodity subject to inflexible economic laws, to sum up: we’ve got it, you want it, we don’t want to
part with it, so if you still want it, peasant, you’re going to have to pay
through your snivelling nose.
A friend tells me that the Shire administration
is getting up to the same shameful lark with FOI enquiries about expenditure on
the Recreation Centre. Apparently the
chameleon Mr Best, who said only recently he didn’t think FOI applications
should be necessary (yes you did, James, please don’t pretend you were
misquoted), is now taking his cue from the staff and supporting outrageous
demands for payment. At least the commissioner knows who his real friends are.
Why should we have to pay for information,
particularly about the expenditure of public money, that ought to be
automatically disclosed in financial reports and freely available online to
all? Why the secrecy, if public servants
have nothing to hide?
I’m no Julian Assange or Edward Snowden. I recognize and support the need for secrecy
in matters touching on national security and diplomatic relations. But secrecy in local government? Give me a break.
Needless to say, I won’t be forking out that
kind of money, mine or anyone else’s.
But never fear: I won’t be dropping my bundle on this one. In the first stage of my application I got
only one document of real value, the one that inadvertently shed light on Cr
Hooper’s game of footsie with Mr Morris.
That alone was worth the application fee. I’ll just have to target my requests more
carefully in future.
James Plumridge
Not a problem, manage this right and this could work to your advantage. The Department is obliged to assist you to narrow the scope of your request.
ReplyDeleteOne way to stop the truth being uncovered is to make the FOI cost out of the reach of the average person.
ReplyDeleteWas this Mr. Jolly's way of protecting the backsides of those involved in the trumped up Show Cause Notice?
The Shire of York has been using this tactic to hide the truth from Ratepayers for years.
DeleteWhen Mr. Best first arrived, he said we could have any document we wanted, all we had to do was ask. He said we did not need to lodge FOI's.
Mr. Best, perhaps you could let us know when the documents relating to the recreation centre will be available for collection at the front counter - free of charge.
James....
ReplyDeleteIf I'm not mistaken, the suspended Councillors still receive an allowance. I believe the allowances are in the region of $7000-10,000 per year. Reid has apparently forked out a fortune already which leaves Hooper, Wallace and Smythe. Forget Hooper, the last thing he wants is the public discovering he's a mole for sure. That leaves Wallace and Smythe, who's combined allowance for 6 months during the suspension is approximately $7000-$10,000, why don't they pay for the FOI?
Quoted by Peter Greste today at the Press Club was Albert Camus' statement: "A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad." That is one for us bloggers.
ReplyDeleteAlso, in Peter's own words: "We hired the government [read Shire Council and its Officers], they work for us, not the other way around. And if we lose sight of that, if we lose sight of the public's need to know and to make decisions and to make democracy work, then again I think we run the risk of losing control." Also: on the topic of asylum seekers [for that read here 'the wronged'] he 'condemned the secrecy surrounding conditions inside detention centres [for that read certain Shire activities like acts of intimidation for instance, by analogy] and demanded the media be allowed to report from inside.
"The public has a right to know, it's as simple as that," Greste said. Source: the speech and http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/journalist-peter-greste-delivers-blunt-message-to-politicians-on-detention-centre-secrecy-20150326-1m8dqi.html
And he is one journalist who has tested the matter to the limits!
Thanks for that. My sentiments exactly. However, I've no intention of testing our matters as far as Peter Greste did his. How he stayed sane during a year in an Egyptian prison is beyond me. I suppose it improved his Arabic.
DeleteJames, in terms of a literal answer: I remember Peter Greste said he got the Embassy (I think it was them) to get them in the 5BX Canadian Army book of exercises so they could keep fit, he did meditaion and I imagine the others did their prayers, and he started on a Masters Degree in (I think) International Relations through Griffith Uni, via text material they provided him through the Australian Embassy. Plus one or other of family visited reasonabley often. An unexpected extra was that the Latvian Govt. gave him citizenship (based on family history). I'd say he has amazing strength. Apparently the Oz Govt (including Julie B) were very helpful, too.
DeleteI placed $100 in the FOI account today James. Let's go for all of the docs and beat them at their own game.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tanya. Yes, that's what we'll do.
Delete