This bill did not become law and is no longer proceeding.
Law, justice & rights
The bill would amend the Freedom of Information Act 1982The Commonwealth law that gives people a right to request access to documents held by Australian Government agencies and ministers, subject to exemptions and procedural rules. and the Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010 to modernise Commonwealth FOI processes, reduce inefficiencies, address abusive or frivolous use of the system, and clarify parts of the Act.
The government introduced the bill as a response to mounting pressure on the Commonwealth FOI system. The explanatory memorandum says the bill aims to modernise FOI administration, reduce inefficiencies, manage vexatious or abusive requests, and clarify exemptions. In the second reading speech, Michelle Rowland pointed to very large electronic record holdings, $86.2 million in FOI processing costs in 2023-24, more than one million public-service hours spent processing FOI requests, and risks from anonymous or automated requests.
The bill sits in a long-running Commonwealth FOI reform debate. The explanatory memorandum links the package to earlier reviews and inquiries, including the 2013 Hawke Review and the 2023 Senate FOI inquiry, and frames the reform problem as a balance between public access to government information, privacy, administrative burden, national security and effective decision-making.
Opposition and crossbench criticism in the local record focused on the bill reducing transparency. Proposed amendments sought an independent FOI review, removal of the application-fee schedule, changes to anonymous-request provisions, and removal of Cabinet-document and deliberative-process exemption changes. One second-reading amendment also criticised the government for consulting departments but not public users, journalists or other stakeholders.
Michelle Rowland MP, Attorney-General introduced this bill. It was supported by Labor, some crossbench members; opposed by Liberal Party, Nationals, Greens, Centre Alliance, some crossbench members; and did not pass.
Did it become law?
No
The bill did not complete passage through Parliament.
Final passage
Did not pass
11 recorded votes before the bill stopped proceeding
Time before failure
183 days
From introduction to the final recorded step before the bill stopped proceeding
Meaning
The bill would amend the Freedom of Information Act 1982The Commonwealth law that gives people a right to request access to documents held by Australian Government agencies and ministers, subject to exemptions and procedural rules. and the Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010 to modernise Commonwealth FOI processes, reduce inefficiencies, address abusive or frivolous use of the system, and clarify parts of the Act.
It would recast the FOI objects clause to balance transparency with protection of private interests and effective government, and would narrow the definition of agency documents so purely personal, non-work material on agency or ministerial systems is not captured.
It would change access-request rules, including electronic submission requirements, protection of employee identifying information, powers to decline repeat, vexatious or abusive requests, and a rule that FOI requests cannot be made anonymously or under a pseudonym.
It would alter refusal and review mechanics, including a discretionary 40-hour processing cap, no concurrent internal and Information Commissioner reviews, continuing agency obligations after statutory timeframes expire, and new Information Commissioner remittal and agreed-resolution powers.
It would allow regulations to prescribe application fees for FOI requests and reviews, with exceptions for requests for a person's own personal information and financial-hardship waivers prescribed by regulation.
The House passed the bill with government amendments, but APH records its status as Not Proceeding after the Senate discharged it from the Notice Paper on 5 March 2026.
The amendments will modernise the framework, reduce system inefficiencies, address abuses of process that can consume a disproportionate amount of agency resources and impact on the right of genuine applicants to access information, and clarify the operation of certain provisions and exemptions within the Act.Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025 explanatory memorandum
Schedule 1 includes provisions which: amend the objects provision of the Act to more expressly reflect the balance between competing public interests ... clarify that information on agency or ministerial systems that concern personal and non-work-related matters of staff are not captured in the definition of a document of an agency.Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025 explanatory memorandum
Schedule 2 ... provide agencies with the ability to decline to handle a repeat or vexatious request or requests that are an abuse of process ... provide that a FOI request cannot be made anonymously or under a pseudonym.Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025 explanatory memorandum
Schedule 3 ... introduce a discretionary 40-hour processing cap for FOI requests ... Schedule 4 ... preventing concurrent internal agency and IC review ... Schedule 5 ... create a new power for the Information Commissioner to remit IC review applications.Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025 explanatory memorandum
Schedule 6 of the Bill will create a power in the Act to enable an application fee to be specified in the regulations, for FOI requests, internal reviews and IC reviews, excluding requests for an individual’s own personal information.Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025 explanatory memorandum
Status: Not Proceeding; House of Representatives: Third reading agreed to 06 Nov 2025; Senate: Discharged from Notice Paper 05 Mar 2026.APH bill page notes and progress record
Context
The bill sits in a long-running Commonwealth FOI reform debate. The explanatory memorandum links the package to earlier reviews and inquiries, including the 2013 Hawke Review and the 2023 Senate FOI inquiry, and frames the reform problem as a balance between public access to government information, privacy, administrative burden, national security and effective decision-making.
We have a trigger statement for this bill but no independently sourced timeline of events yet.
Legislative route
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time, which starts its parliamentary journey.
Introduced and read a first time
A minister or sponsoring member moved the second reading, opening the main debate on the bill's purpose and principles.
Second reading moved
The bill was referred to Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee; Committee report (03/12/2025).
Referred to committee
APH bill page notesThe bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
Referred to Federation Chamber
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
Second reading debate
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
Referred to Federation Chamber
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
Second reading debate
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
Reported from Federation Chamber
Recorded vote: 86 to 47.
The chamber agreed to the bill at second reading, meaning it accepted the bill in principle and allowed it to continue.
Second reading agreed to
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
Referred to Federation Chamber
The chamber considered amendments before the bill moved to the next stage.
Consideration in detail debate
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
Reported from Federation Chamber
The chamber considered the bill in detail and dealt with amendments before the next stage.
Consideration in detail debate
Recorded vote: 88 to 49.
The chamber agreed to the bill at third reading, which completed passage through that chamber.
Third reading agreed to
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time, which starts its parliamentary journey.
Introduced and read a first time
A minister or sponsoring member moved the second reading, opening the main debate on the bill's purpose and principles.
Second reading moved
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
Key criticism
Opposition and crossbench criticism in the local record focused on the bill reducing transparency. Proposed amendments sought an independent FOI review, removal of the application-fee schedule, changes to anonymous-request provisions, and removal of Cabinet-document and deliberative-process exemption changes. One second-reading amendment also criticised the government for consulting departments but not public users, journalists or other stakeholders.
This section is based only on the collected amendments and parliamentary material in the local source files; it does not claim to cover every public criticism outside that corpus.
Independent review before proceeding
Kate Chaney proposed that the House decline to give the bill a second reading and instead call for an independent review of the FOI ActThe Commonwealth law that gives people a right to request access to documents held by Australian Government agencies and ministers, subject to exemptions and procedural rules. covering proactive disclosure, accessibility, timeliness, exemptions, resourcing, vexatious requests, AI and frank public-service advice.
Consultation and transparency concerns
Allegra Spender proposed criticism that the government had not consulted members of the public, journalists or other stakeholders who use FOI legislation, and referred to Centre for Public Integrity criticism of government claims about the bill.
Application fees and exemptions
Helen Haines proposed amendments to remove Schedule 6 on application fees and parts of Schedule 7 dealing with refusing requests on their terms and Cabinet documents.
Objects, anonymous requests and exemptions
Monique Ryan proposed amendments to remove changes to the FOI objects clause, narrow parts of the anonymous-request changes, and omit Cabinet-document and deliberative-process exemption changes.
Votes
The chamber-passage votes come first. Expand a vote to see the party breakdown.
Passed 88 to 49. Support came from Labor. Opposition came from Liberal Party, Nationals, Greens, Centre Alliance, and minor parties and independents. Minor-party and independent votes were split.
Earlier bill-stage votes
Passed 86 to 47. Support came from Labor. Opposition came from Liberal Party, Nationals, Greens, Centre Alliance, and minor parties and independents. Minor-party and independent votes were split.
Amendments grouped by chamber. Where APH reports aggregate counts, the package card summarizes the matching public amendment sheets by source theme.
House
Defeated 12 to 70. Support came from Greens, Centre Alliance, and minor parties and independents. Opposition came from Labor and Liberal Party. Minor-party and independent votes were split.
This kept the bill's application-fee framework in place at that stage.
Passed 87 to 48. Support came from Labor. Opposition came from Liberal Party, Nationals, Greens, Centre Alliance, and minor parties and independents. Minor-party and independent votes were split.
This procedural vote helped move the bill through its remaining House stages.
Passed 88 to 48. Support came from Labor. Opposition came from Liberal Party, Nationals, Greens, Centre Alliance, and minor parties and independents. Minor-party and independent votes were split.
This cleared a procedural step needed before further amendments were put.
Defeated 46 to 88. Support came from Liberal Party, Nationals, Greens, Centre Alliance, and minor parties and independents. Opposition came from Labor. Minor-party and independent votes were split.
This kept those Schedule 7 exemption changes in the House version of the bill.
Defeated 48 to 88. Support came from Liberal Party, Nationals, Greens, Centre Alliance, and minor parties and independents. Opposition came from Labor. Minor-party and independent votes were split.
This kept the deliberative-process exemption changes in the House version of the bill.
Defeated 48 to 88. Support came from Liberal Party, Nationals, Greens, Centre Alliance, and minor parties and independents. Opposition came from Labor. Minor-party and independent votes were split.
This preserved core government drafting on FOI objects, anonymous requests and exemptions.
Defeated 48 to 88. Support came from Liberal Party, Nationals, Greens, Centre Alliance, and minor parties and independents. Opposition came from Labor. Minor-party and independent votes were split.
This meant the bill could proceed without the review trigger proposed by the member for Curtin.
Passed 97 to 40. Support came from Labor. Opposition came from Liberal Party, Nationals, Greens, and Centre Alliance. Minor-party and independent votes were split.
This incorporated the agreed amendments before the House voted on the bill as amended.
Passed 88 to 48. Support came from Labor. Opposition came from Liberal Party, Nationals, Greens, Centre Alliance, and minor parties and independents. Minor-party and independent votes were split.
This confirmed the amended text before final House passage.
APH records 2 Government amendments agreed on the voices. The public amendment list groups them into 1 amendment sheet, so this page summarizes the package by source theme.
Passed on the voices
The chamber agreed to this amendment package without a counted vote. APH records the agreed count by amendment, while the source documents are grouped into amendment sheets.
Senate
The Senate Journal records this outcome as carried on voices.
Carried on voices
The chamber decided this amendment without a counted division, so there is no list of individual Aye and No votes.
This list includes amendment votes, procedural votes and votes on the bill itself.
Parliamentary debate
Start here — lead voices
All speeches by bloc
8 speakers · 9 contributions · 8 unclear
Hansard records 2 separate contributions by Michelle Rowland on this bill. They are grouped here so the speaker is listed once.
Minister's second reading speech
Read this contribution in Hansard ↗Second reading speech
Read this contribution in Hansard ↗11 speakers · 12 contributions · 11 unclear
Hansard records 2 separate contributions by Barnaby Joyce on this bill. They are grouped here so the speaker is listed once.
Second reading speech
Read this contribution in Hansard ↗Second reading speech
Read this contribution in Hansard ↗6 speakers · 6 unclear
Record
House · Introduced and read a first time
Introduced
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time, which starts its parliamentary journey.
House · Second reading moved
Second reading opened
A minister or sponsoring member moved the second reading, opening the main debate on the bill's purpose and principles.
House · Second reading debate
Second reading debate
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
House · Referred to Federation Chamber
Referred to Federation Chamber
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
House · Second reading debate
Second reading debate
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
House · Returned to House for further consideration
Returned to House for further consideration
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
House · Second reading debate
Second reading debate
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
House · Referred to Federation Chamber
Referred to Federation Chamber
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
House · Second reading debate
Second reading debate
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
House · Reported from Federation Chamber
Reported from Federation Chamber
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
House · Second reading agreed to
Recorded vote: 86 to 47.
Second reading agreed
The chamber agreed to the bill at second reading, meaning it accepted the bill in principle and allowed it to continue.
House · Referred to Federation Chamber
Referred to Federation Chamber
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
House · Consideration in detail: amendments considered
Amendment packages agreed
The chamber considered amendments before the bill moved to the next stage.
House · Reported from Federation Chamber
Reported from Federation Chamber
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
House · Consideration in detail debate
Consideration in detail
The chamber considered the bill in detail and dealt with amendments before the next stage.
House · Third reading agreed to
Recorded vote: 88 to 49.
Third reading agreed
The chamber agreed to the bill at third reading, which completed passage through that chamber.
Senate · Introduced and read a first time
Introduced
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time, which starts its parliamentary journey.
Senate · Second reading moved
Second reading opened
A minister or sponsoring member moved the second reading, opening the main debate on the bill's purpose and principles.
Senate · Discharged from Notice Paper
Discharged from Notice Paper
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee; Committee report (03/12/2025)
Referred to committee
The bill was referred to Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee; Committee report (03/12/2025).
Referred to Committee (4 Sept 2025): Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee; Committee report (3 Dec 2025)
APH bill page notes
