QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator FARRELL (South Australia—Minister for Trade and Tourism, Special Minister of State and Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:25): I thank Senator Lambie for her question. I reject your fundamental proposition that this government is not doing enough on transparency. I'll give you an example.

In my own portfolio, Senator Lambie, we have made changes to the electoral laws of this country, which will come into operation on 1 January next year, which will require any donors to political parties to disclose those donations within seven days of them being granted and at a much lower threshold than is currently in place. But, to answer the specifics of your question, the government does seek to update the FOI rules.

I'm not particularly au fait with what training officials get in this regard, and I'm happy to investigate that and come back to you with a formal response, Senator Lambie. I do know that Mr Rex Patrick has made a business out of working for— Senator FARRELL: Can I say this, Senator Lambie: the way in which individuals like Rex Patrick are abusing the FOI system means that— Senator FARRELL: This government wants to modernise the FOI system so that those people who genuinely want reasonable information out of the system can get it and can get it quickly.

(Time expired)