Government's FOI reform legislation passed through the Parliament

The Government's FOI reform legislation, the Australian Information Commissioner Bill 2010 and the Freedom of Information Amendment (Reform) Bill 2010, passed through the Parliament on 13 May 2010.

The Government moved amendments to both Bills in the House of Representatives on 12 May, which were agreed. Details of those amendments and the final Bills as passed by both Houses are available from the Parliament of Australia ParlInfo website: see

Australian Information Commissioner Bill 2010 http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Fbillhome%2Fr4164%22

and Freedom of Information Amendment (Reform) Bill 2010 http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Fbillhome%2Fr4163%22

Following Royal Assent of the Bills, the majority of the measures (including the establishment of the new Office of the Australian Information Commissioner) will commence on a day to be fixed by proclamation, or six months after Royal Assent. The Government will make an announcement on this matter.

As you may be aware, the Government announced on 26 February this year the engagement of Professor John McMillan AO as the Information Commissioner Designate. Preparations for the establishment of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner are continuing. This includes work on new FOI guidelines so that they are ready in sufficient time for commencement of the changes to the FOI request regime.

The new Information Publication Scheme will commence six months later than the other reform measures.

New Report: “Net Generation” Guide Released by U.S. Department of Defense

The U.S. Department of Defense announced the release of the Net Generation guide, a 128-page report by the Federal Chief Information Officers (CIO) Council that focuses on preparing for change in the Federal Information Technology (IT) workforce.

Although this report focuses on workplace and IT issues, two chapters might be of interest.

+ Chapter 5 Norms and Characteristics of the Net Generation (Begins on Page 37)

+ Chapter 9 Shaping the Workplace Through Web 2.0 Technologies (Begins on Page 63)

Full Text access to the 128 page document can be found here (PDF).

Source: U.S. DOD

The future of IRIS industrial relations database

As a result of the changes to the industrial relations system, information about employment and industrial relations will be available from Fair Work Australia.

Historical data in the IRIS database will be relocated to the QIRC website and available for free from 1 July 2010

More information from Wageline

Commonwealth Budget process explained

It's Budget night tomorrow (Tuesday 11 May). Do you know enough to answer any questions from your clients? Will you be able to source relevant documents? Do you understand the role of the Estimates committees? If you're a bit rusty, you may find this document rivetting reading!

Roy Jordan, ALLA member and Senior Law Librarian at the Parliamentary Library posted about this useful document on the national ALLA-ANZ list : The Commonwealth Budget: Process and Presentation [PDF]

It contains an overview of the process, the main stages, budget documents and even reporting requirements. A great primer!

Government response to Gov 2.0 Taskforce report

The Government response to the Government 2.0 Taskforce report Engage: Getting on with Government 2.0 has been released.

The Government has agreed to most of the recommendations from the report, deferring or questioning a few. As in the U.S they will adopt a "declaration of open government" and the Department of Finance and Deregulation will be the lead agency ( their new blog AGIMO will be providing a forum for issues surrounding Government use of ICT, well worth a look).

Implementation of the recommendations hinges on some other factors and is related to the passage of the freedom of information legislation currently before parliament, so will take at least 18 months to become a reality. No doubt this direction will continue to provide law librarians with challenges as well as opportunities in accessing government information in the future.