Order Description
How important is the role of an Information Commissioner to the effective functioning of freedom of information legislation? How important is freedom of information legislation to public law accountability and transparency. Discuss and analyse these question in light of the establishment of the office of Information Commissioner under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) as recently as 2010 and experiences of the Commissioner’s operations since that time, including the Abbott/Turnbull government’s partly thwarted efforts to abolish the office of Commissioner (it has only succeeded in defunding and denying resources).

Note that state and territory FOI Acts generally speaking have long provided for an Information Commissioner.