Ms Maria Graham:

I did not intend to infer that FOI was burdensome. Many moons ago, I was the Department's first FOI officer. I was intimately involved in implementing the freedom of information legislation in the Department and was the champion of it in the Department. I can assure the committee from that perspective. I was trying to reflect that the FOI provisions are general in nature, trying to cover all the potential areas where there may be exemption. Sometimes specific categories, such as confidentiality or commercial sensitivity, are known to impact on an organisation and that is reflected in its legislation. Some organisations have confidential information or commercial information particularly identified. That is so that based on the general exemption, rather than going through an exercise where the Information Commissioner will end up in that position, we know it from the outset. That is purely the rationale, that there is a component of information that is held. However, I indicated that we believe given the nature of the LDA it is important to have the appropriate balance of accountability and governance. We are mindful of the discussion the committee has had on FOI and lobbying, the legislation relating to both of which is general in nature.

For that reason, they are not part of the Minister's legislation. The Minister will look to the Government and discussions with his colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, for proposed alternatives. I am simply signalling that we were conscious of the debate. If we can find a measure that sits appropriately with what we are trying to do, we are open to it. We are only trying to ensure that the LDA can work operationally with the appropriate level of transparency and accountability. We are open to all ideas in that regard.