Access

Austral Information Access Commissioners and the ACT Ombudsman have released the findings of their first cross jurisdictional study of community attitudes to access to government information. 

Commissioners from NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, the Commonwealth (ie the OAIC) and the ACT Ombudsman  sponsored the research as part of Australia’s Open Government National Action Plan 2018–2020.

 The Information Access Study 2019 measures citizens’ awareness of the right to access government information, and their experiences and outcomes in exercising that right. The sponsors argue that the research provides a broad insight into citizens’ views and experiences of the right to access information.

The reported Key Findings (the actual report doesn't seem to be publicly available) include:

•  the importance of the right to access information is consistently recognised by respondents across state and national jurisdictions (85 – 93%); 
• the majority of respondents across the jurisdictions were aware that they had the right to access information from government departments/agencies (77- 85%); 
• around 4 in 10 respondents had contacted at least one government agency in the past three years to obtain government information; and 
• in general, citizens were able to obtain information successfully (60 – 91%). 

The sponsors state

By enhancing understanding of community attitudes and experiences, the study’s results will help inform activities to promote and support the right to access government information. The results will also enable governments to examine the performance of their respective access to information laws from a citizen perspective.  

The right to access government information is independently overseen by the Commonwealth and State and Territory Information Commissioners and Ombudsmen. ...  

The right to access information is a fundamental tenet of an open and democratic government. The study reflects the importance the community uniformly places on their right to access information. The valuable insights provided in this inaugural cross jurisdictional survey involving four Australian states, the ACT and the Commonwealth of Australia will assist in building a better understanding of information access frameworks. It reinforces commitments under the Open Government National Action Plans to better measure and understand the value citizens place on the right to access government information, and their experiences and outcomes. These results will assist Information Access Commissioners and ACT Ombudsman to encourage governments to promote access to government-held information to build public trust and continue to advance an effective and contemporary model of open government that is participatory, fair, accountable and transparent.

Major irony: the report accompanying the media release comprises a single page featuring four bar charts.

It is so simplistic as to be verging on meaningless and would, if submitted in a 2nd year law assignment, receive a 'Fail' grade.