Bill
Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025
lapsed, as at 2026-03-05. Attorney-General portfolio.
- Sponsor
- Not recorded
- Portfolio
- Attorney-General
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2025-09-03
- second reading — 2025-09-03
- other — 2025-11-04
- second reading — 2025-11-04
- other — 2025-11-05
- second reading — 2025-11-05
- other — 2025-11-05
- second reading — 2025-11-05
- other — 2025-11-05
- committee — 2025-11-05
- other — 2025-11-06
- committee — 2025-11-06
- third reading — 2025-11-06
- introduced — 2025-11-24
- second reading — 2025-11-24
- other — 2026-03-05
Divisions
No divisions recorded. Most questions are decided on the voices; this does not establish that a bill was unopposed.
Plain-language summary
Written by a model from the explanatory memorandum; not the record, as at 2025-09-03.
The bill would update the Freedom of Information Act to balance transparency with protecting personal privacy and government efficiency.
It would give agencies new powers to refuse vexatious or repeated requests, require requesters to identify themselves, and cap processing time at 40 hours before a fee can be charged.
The changes would start on a day fixed by proclamation or six months after the bill receives royal assent.
- Amend the objects clause to weigh competing public interests.
- Exclude staff personal and non-work-related information from the definition of a document of an agency.
- Modernise submission requirements for requests and applications to the Information Commissioner.
- Allow agencies to decline repeat, vexatious or abusive requests.
- Ban anonymous or pseudonymous requests and require declaration of third-party requests.
- Introduce a discretionary 40-hour processing cap for requests.
Agencies, ministers, their staff, and people who make Freedom of Information requests
Sources
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