Mr. Luke Bukha:

The Minister has come out to say that ORAC and the Refugee Act are no longer exempted from the freedom of information provisions, but what was not clear was the type of information. There is information which, for security or other reasons, cannot be given out. If we knew the sort of information in the appeal or in the application that is not given out, it would be clear to most of us, to people going through that process, and to campaigners, whether they are journalists, solicitors or even neighbours.

We would know because for these two boards now, there are supposed to be no more secrets but how much information can we get in response to requests? I say this because in November a researcher who was working to produce a detailed anti-deportation document applied for information about applications and the tribunal and some of the questions were not answered because the agency said that information was not given out.