Labor's Trumpian lies about robodebt are at the heart of its assault on freedom of information

Labor's Trumpian lies about robodebt are at the heart of its assault on freedom of information

The government is invoking robodebt as a reason for its its FOI changes — but they're the opposite of what the royal commission called for.

Freedom from information • Peter Mares

Earlier this year, just ahead of the federal election, I emailed some routine questions to Home Affairs. I was planning an article for Inside Story about the challenge for an incoming immigration minister of a growing backlog of applications for partner and parent visas. The data I sought covered the number of applications on hand in each category at the end of April. I asked the media team to get back to me by 9 May, the Friday after the electi…