Senator Fatima Payman Media Release
Western Australian Independent Senator Fatima Payman is today celebrating a big win for freedom and transparency after the Government discharged the flawed Freedom of Information Bill from the notice paper.
In the final week of sitting in 2025 Senator Payman committed to moving a motion on discharging the Bill on the first sitting.
On 3 February, she moved for the discharge, which failed after the Liberal Party and National Party abstained, but undeterred she sought to move again this week for its discharge.
Instead of allowing the motion to go for a vote, the Government last-minute discharged the Bill this morning.
Senator Payman commended the Government for listening to the public and the rest of the Senate but said the Bill should never have been tabled in the first place.
“They got there eventually, but they could have saved a lot of time, a lot of grief and a lot of taxpayers’ money by just carrying out genuine consultation with subject matter experts and the Senate,” Senator Payman said.
“I am hoping that this move is the beginnings of a crack in the wall of secrecy the Labor Government has been fortifying, particularly in this term.
“I would like to thank my Senate colleagues of all stripes for working together and keeping up the pressure, which has resulted in this big win for every Australian who values transparency and accountability.”
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Well done Senator Payman. I hope like you this is the start of moves to more transparency that Albanese promised, but given his duplicity not holding my breath
Congratulations Senator Payman. Thank you for holding the Albanese government’s to account and actually standing for Labor values and principles unlike the Albanese Labor Government.
Well done, AIMN for acknowledging Sen. Fatima Payman’s role.
Well done, Sen. Payman.
The government refused to listen to the Australian public, we value democracy, we value transparency.
What do you have to hide that you’re so adamant on making it harder for people to gain access to information from your government? (The Guardian as it happened)
Legislation to rig elections through altering electoral funding, this attempt to cloak government’s processes, worst record in history on FOI requests, giving the AFP extraordinary powers to gather information on Australian citizens, similarly giving ASIO extraordinary powers and means of secrecy, passing our biometrics onto the Trump administration, granting Home Affairs Ministers god-like powers, hate laws that could be used to send opponents to jail and suppress free speech, together with state violence directed at peaceful protesters, undermining International law, giving support for illegal attacks on sovereign nations, complicity in genocide, and the contracting out of work to Palantir, what could possibly go wrong with what Labor is doing?
The Retched Mediocrity may have replaced the effective Ed Husic with an underwhelming LABOR right wing puppet to boost his own meagre aspirations for political advancement, however Senator Payman has shown that keeping principled people down in Parliament is very difficult when they are responsible to their electorate rather than the unelected political party hacks who control pre-selections and ministerial appointments.
REGIONAL INDEPENDENTS GET THINGS DONE FOR THEIR COMMUNITIES.
What do NOtional$, LIARBRAL$ and Only Nutters do??
Similarly INDEPENDENT SENATORS represent the best interests of the voters.
Well done Senator Payman, we are proud to have you in our country and Parliament.