Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee, , 3:25:17 to 3:27:10
The committee discusses Defense's failure to comply with a specific FOI request within the statutory timeframe and the department's general approach to transparency.
Topics: Freedom of information, Integrity
Speakers: Meghan Quinn, Fatima Payman, Speaker 20, Unknown Speaker
instruction. >> I look forward to receiving the answers um for that. Now, why did defense fail to comply with FOI request 329 uh/26/27 within the statutory time frame which relates to this issue despite the 30-day extension being granted.
Uh so, I'd have to see whether we've got information on that particular case. Um sometimes it's a it's a matter of uh processing, sometimes it's a matter of you know internal mechanisms, but you have the number again? Sorry. Yes,
it is uh FOI request 329/26/27.
>> Senator John Reed, Deputy Secretary Governance. I'm just pulling up 329. My technology is failing me. Senator >> Senator, if I can I I'll be able to get back to you before the before the hearing's out. I'll pull up the the record for that.
>> Yes, please. Cuz it just seems like defense is preventing scrutiny on this matter. So, I'm just wondering why um hasn't complied. We'll move on to
>> So, I just want I just want to be clear, Senator. We comply with the legislative obligations. They're legislative obligations on officials. Uh we train our FOI uh officers. We have a legal framework. People are fully aware of their legal obligations. There are uh parts of the framework that allow for us for extensions. Some of it's about negotiation negotiating with applicants. Um we take seriously our obligations to meet and we operate under the