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Australia politics live: Ley says extremist movement’s ‘sickness has to be removed’; Labor under pressure over FoI changes

Opposition leader says she ‘felt sick’ watching a neo-Nazi interrupt Jacinta Allan’s press conference on Tuesday. Follow today’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastRowland denies government trying to put more information out of public’s reachSo what about the Albanese government’s promise that it’s open and transparent?As we found out through robodebt, which was another example of a lack of transparency which cost people lives under the previous government, just labelling something cabinet in confidence does not make it so and we intend to enshrine that in this law.We’ve had cases where FoI requests have been generated, sometimes around 600 of them in one instance, going to a small agency, which tied up the services of that agency for over two months. Now, you might think that’s not important, but let me tell you what that agency was. That was eSafety. That is an organisation responsible for ensuring the safety, particularly of young people, online getting tied up, doing 600 frivolous FoI requests that they are required by law to deal with.I would point out that there is currently a charging regime in the Freedom of Information Act, and every state and territory bar the ACT actually imposes a modest application fee of somewhere between $30 and the mid-50s. Continue reading...